


Growing Together

by teamchaosprez



Series: Self Indulgent Nondespair AU [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Canon Trans Character, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Friendship, Hinata Hajime & Kamukura Izuru Are Twins, Kid Fic, Multi, Next Generation, Next-Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pregnancy, Trans Female Character, Trans Female Fujisaki Chihiro, Trans Fujisaki Chihiro, Trans Ikusaba Mukuro, Trans Komaeda Nagito, Trans Male Character, Unplanned Pregnancy, actually a LOT of these characters are trans, and chihiro and chiaki are cousins, chihiro is a trans girl, they're all queer all of them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-04-21 19:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14292219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teamchaosprez/pseuds/teamchaosprez
Summary: Ten years after graduating from Hope's Peak, several alumni have married and started their families. Chiaki and Hajime, while married, weren't planning on joining them just yet - but life has a funny way of making its own path.Previously titled Dangkidsronpa.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i've always loved kidfics but was always a little nervous to write one of my own, but screw it, 2018 is my year and if i feel like having fictional characters get married and have families i will!!!
> 
> i have a LOT of children and lives for most characters figured out... everyone is going to show up eventually, though the focus will be kept on chiaki and hajime ;)
> 
> keep a few things in mind while reading this:  
> \- i experienced the games in their english translation so i tend to refer to them in their first names  
> \- i've done dr1 and sdr2, am starting drae soon, and have not gotten around to dr3 and ndrv3. expect those characters and ships, and their respective children, to show up as i go through!  
> \- i am not from japan, nor am i going to pretend to be, so some of my information is going to be a bit off.

At first, when the nausea and fatigue started, Chiaki thought nothing of it. She was tired all the time anyway, and it wasn’t like she was a stranger to getting the flu. It was when she began to notice her tender breasts and spotting that she got concerned - sure, her period could be on the way, but it didn’t feel like that. It didn’t  _ look _ like that. Still, she tried to push it down to the back of her head, ignore her concerns and carry on with her life, even if she had to get up in the middle of a stream to vomit every now and again. Hajime noticed, and was more worried than she was, but she waved him off.

They had graduated from Hope’s Peak Academy ten years ago as of that coming May, and in the last decade had built a pretty solid life for themselves. Chiaki was a full time streamer and YouTuber that made enough to support the both of them combined, and Hajime worked as an assistant manager for the closest Togami office building. The two of them had been happily married since only a few years after they graduated, and lived in a small apartment together - they could probably afford a bigger one, but all they really needed was their current one bedroom living situation.

Fellow Hope’s Peak alumni stayed in touch with them, and they had almost become like family despite varying levels of fame and financial welfare. It seemed that every year now a couple of them were getting married, having children, reaching the tops of their respective careers… all sorts of life achievements, and Chiaki couldn’t lie, she was very proud of her friends. Sonia Nevermind and Akane Owari were the only two of them that didn’t live nearby, too, being all the way in the Novaselic Kingdom because Sonia was the heiress to the throne and couldn’t exactly live full time in Japan.

With so many close friends married and starting families, perhaps Chiaki should have noticed sooner that the symptoms she was showing were familiar. She wasn’t exactly known for being privy to anything in the actual physical world, though, so it wasn’t until she was hanging out at the Kuzuryuu household with Peko, Chihiro, and Mikan that she finally noticed that something was off. Peko and Fuyuhiko’s two year old daughter, Aia, was thrilled to have her ‘aunties’ over, and kept running back and forth between her bedroom to the drawing room where they were sitting to show off her drawings and toys while the women talked. Before even half an hour of their little meeting had passed, Chiaki was holding onto two different plushies of Pokémon and Aia was dozing off in Peko’s lap.

Now that a toddler wasn’t interrupting their conversation every four or five seconds, the four women began actually catching up on what they had been up to. Mikan gushed about her and Ibuki’s honeymoon to Jabberwock Island; Peko disclosed that she and Fuyuhiko were considering trying for a second child; Chihiro was working hard on a new artificial intelligence program. “Nothing much has been going on for me,” Chiaki spoke up with a shrug when the others turned to look at her expectantly. “I think I might be sick, though, because for the last few months or so I’ve been really nauseous and tired and sore.” She lifted her tea to her mouth then, thinking nothing of what she just said.

Peko stared at her with calm crimson eyes and took a sip of her own tea before speaking slowly, sounding careful. “That sounds a lot like when I was in my early pregnancy with Aia. Have you been having your periods regularly?”

The gamer froze then, suddenly getting hit with how much that added up. She had been too wrapped up in other things that she hadn’t even noticed that she hadn’t menstruated since she started getting sick. “No,” she answered with a swallow, shocked by even the idea that she might be pregnant. “I thought it just had something to do with stress, or being sick, since I heard those things tend to delay your periods too. But now that you mention it, four months straight of this does seem a little…” She trailed off then, heart pounding in her chest and feeling a little dizzy.

That conversation led to the four of them piling into Peko’s car to a nearby convenience store for a pregnancy test, which led to Peko and Mikan waiting in the drawing room while Chiaki peed on the stick. The test and a timer were left on the counter, and the gamer sat on the ground with Chihiro, her cousin leaning against her side and honestly grounding her in reality a little bit. It wasn’t that the concept of being a mother upset her - it was just that she hadn’t been expecting to get pregnant quite yet. She had always assumed it would come after her and Hajime discussing it at length and trying for a few months.

“Do you want a kid?” Chihiro asked suddenly, and Chiaki felt herself jump a little and turn her head to face her cousin. The younger woman was watching her with an eyebrow raised, and the gamer felt herself let out a soft sigh. “You don’t have to answer, I was just curious so I know whether to congratulate you or not if it turns out positive.” She shrugged.

“Kind of?” her response was unsure, and she knew that her tone didn’t inspire much confidence. “I always kinda wanted to have a child or two someday, but… the key word there is  _ someday. _ I’m just not prepared right now…” Chiaki sighed, burying her face in her hands and closing her eyes. Her head hurt. “If the universe wants to give me a baby, as long as Hajime wants one too I’ll happily take it. I’ll probably just need a little bit of time to get over the surprise. That’s all.”

Chihiro nodded sagely, and opened her mouth to say something else, but before any words could come out the timer on the bathroom counter began ringing its shrill song and both women jumped. Chiaki peeled herself off of the tiles of the floor and made her way over to the counter, Chihiro trailing behind her as she reached out for the stick, eyes closed as she turned it over until she sucked in a small breath and turned the thing over, blinking a couple of times as she stared at the result.

Positive.

She was going to be a mother.

* * *

 

After spending a few hours being fussed over by Chihiro and Mikan and talking to Peko well after those two left, Chiaki made her way home, climbing onto the bus a block or so away from the massive Kuzuryuu house and riding for an hour or so from the suburbs into the city until she was two blocks away from her apartment building and could walk the rest of the way. The pregnancy test was tucked safely into a side pocket of her backpack, and she knew from checking her phone that Hajime was home and making dinner. She let out a soft sigh before unlocking the device and sending her husband a quick text -  _ just got off the bus. i have smth important to talk to u about after dinner. _

His response was quick, and mercifully was only a thumbs up emoji. She let out a heavy sigh as she continued walking down the sidewalk, her mind running at a million miles an hour. The two of them had already had several conversations about maybe having children, and every time they came to an agreement - yes, they  _ wanted _ children, but not quite yet. Maybe in a few years, after they had moved to a bigger apartment. She doubted he would be upset about the news that she was pregnant, but she couldn’t help but be a little bit scared of a bad reaction nonetheless.

When she finally reached their apartment door, she gently pushed her way inside with her shoulder and spotted Hajime standing over the stove, leaning over the gyudon he was making and only looking up when he heard her close the door. Her husband’s face lit up in a bright smile, and almost immediately Chiaki could feel her anxiety disappear as he stepped away from the food he was cooking in order to press a gentle kiss against her cheek. “Welcome home,” he greeted her, arms still wrapped around for a moment before he backed away and returned to their dinner. “You’re just in time, it should be ready in about five minutes. How was your little girls’ club meeting?”

“It was okay,” Chiaki shrugged slightly. “It was just me, Chihiro, Peko, and Mikan today. Mikan told us about her honeymoon, Peko was kinda quiet like she usually is, Chihiro talked a lot about computers. Aia was really excited about us being at her house, which was really cute.” She shrugged off her backpack, hanging it on the back of her usual kitchen chair instead of flinging it onto the couch like she usually would. She sat down, crossing her arms on the table and resting her chin on them. “How was work? Byakuya didn’t overwork you too much, did he?”

Hajime laughed slightly at that and removed the food from the stove in order to separate it into bowls. “Not any more than he usually does.” He passed her a bowl and sat across from her, and dinner proceeded as it usually did - mostly quiet, occasionally making conversation about their respective days but mostly just enjoying each other’s company at the end of a long day and debating about whether to watch a movie or play a video game that night.

She took cleanup duty, collecting their empty bowls after a couple servings each and putting some leftovers in a Tupperware container before cleaning up the dishes. She had no idea how she was supposed to break the news to her husband - how does one announce a pregnancy  _ smoothly, _ especially when it was unplanned? Maybe she should wait a few days, set up some sort of really over the top and exciting announcement that she could throw in her husband’s face - but before she could really develop that idea too thoroughly, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek against her back. “So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?” he asked, pressing a gentle kiss against the back of her neck.

Chiaki stayed quiet for a few seconds, but the answer burst out of her before she could even think to put a filter on it. “I’m pregnant.” She felt him tense around her, probably out of shock, and she sucked in a small breath as she put the pot she just finished washing on the drying rack. “I took a pregnancy test while I was hanging out with the others because Peko thought me being sick the last four months meant that I might be pregnant, and… she was right.”

Her husband seemed to not know what to say or do for a few moments, and Chiaki felt his hands run down her sides before resting over her tummy, ride underneath her belly button where their child was just beginning to grow. The gamer’s heart melted, and she leaned back to rest against him - it wasn’t until she heard a soft sniffle that she realized that he was… “Hajime, are you crying?”

“Maybe a little,” he sighed out, putting his hands on her shoulders and gently turning her around to look her in the eyes. One of Hajime’s hands gently cupped Chiaki’s cheek, and she put hers over his carefully. “Oh my god, we’re going to be parents.” A big smile cracked across his face, and the streamer felt all of her anxiety melt away. He was happy - so she was happy, too. Maybe this wasn’t quite happening with the timing they thought it would - or  _ how _ it would - but life had a funny way of making its own plans, and she couldn’t say that she was upset about it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chiaki is popular with her friends' kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- the warriors of hope are komaru and toko's foster kids, soon to be officially adopted. monaca has been their legally adopted daughter for about two years.  
> \- taka is a trans boy and had his and mondo's twins before he finished transitioning, because both of them wanted children.  
> \- aoi and sakura's daughter was born through a medical process allowing two cis women to produce a child.

When everything was said and done, streaming and making videos didn’t take up  _ that _ much of her time. Streams were maybe a few hours from Saturdays until Wednesdays, and she didn’t post to her YouTube nearly as much anymore. That left Chiaki with quite a bit of free time, and in the few days following the discovery of her pregnancy, she found herself with nothing to do after calling the doctor to schedule an appointment for her first ultrasound. Lazing around the apartment looking at real estate websites for a space with room for the baby got pretty old pretty quickly, so two days after finding out that she was pregnant, the gamer decided to stop by the daycare center owned by her friend Komaru Naegi and Komaru’s girlfriend, Toko Fukawa.

Most people would consider it a bad idea to have children in the home of somebody who had a serial killer alternate personality, but Genocider Syo had settled down considerably in the last decade or so. She was even pretty good with kids - she found them entertaining, and the children themselves had a blast with the energetic alter. Komaru just needed to keep an eye on her to make sure that she didn’t turn arts and crafts time into teaching the kids about stabbing and crucifixion. Most of their students were the offspring of their former classmates, so that would almost definitely not go over well. Syo had given up on hunting down and murdering cute boys, anyway - Komaru theorized that motherhood had just made her soft, but Syo scoffed at the idea. It wasn’t like she had custody of the kid, anyway, she said.

Chiaki climbed off of the bus as soon as it reached the stop just up the street from the townhouse that Komaru and Toko lived and ran their business in. She walked the rest of the way with her hands in her hoodie pockets, and when she reached the building, reached for the door and knocked twice. This particular area of the suburbs was pretty safe, but neither of the residents wanted to risk any harm coming to the children that were in their home at all hours.

To her surprise, it was neither Komaru nor Toko that opened the door, but Komaru’s older brother, Makoto Naegi. She wasn’t necessarily upset about this, though, as Makoto was a fellow alumni of Hope’s Peak and was the fiance of the man who she would consider her best friend. “Hey, Chiaki,” Makoto greeted her with a grin, moving to the side so that she could step inside. “Toko’s off visiting Haku today, so I’m helping Komaru out. She’s in the kitchen if you want to see her.”

Admittedly, she was a little shocked to learn that Toko had gone to see her son instead of having him brought to her so that they could be alone. She and Byakuya had a brief sexual relationship right before graduating from Hope’s Peak, and the result of that had been Haku Togami, a bright boy born to two kids barely out of high school whose early life was, to put it lightly, a big mess. Toko had been promised a long term relationship if she birthed the kid, and ended up adoring him despite her initial insecurities - only for Byakuya to backstab her, throw her out, and secure full custody of their son when he was only three months old. Nobody was entirely sure what had come over him, but he claimed that Syo had threatened the kid for stealing his attention at some point, which made him nervous about having the child’s mother around him; Syo vehemently denied this, saying that she adored the little parasite. It  _ was _ her threats, however, that gained Toko visitation rights, so typically once a month Haku would spend a weekend in the townhouse with his mother, “Aunt Syo,” and unofficial stepmom.

Maybe, though, if Toko was willing to go to the Togami manor now, the six year old grudge between the two former classmates was finally starting to die down. Chiaki hoped so. She got a little tired of listening to two of her friends badmouth each other. “I was just kinda looking for something to do, and wanted to see the kids, I guess. Who’s here today?”

“Daiya and Danuja are here for the week, since Taka’s off doing his campaign stuff and Mondo went with him. Hanako’s hanging out until Sakura finishes up the class she’s teaching, too. Other than that, though, it’s pretty quiet today, since the foster kids are at school until four, and even then Masaru and Kotoko both have their practices to do.” Makoto pulled the door closed after glancing outside one more time, and led the gamer into the building. “Wanted to see the kids? What’s the occasion?”

“Well…” there was a moment’s pause, as Chiaki rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “I was going to tell everyone at the same time, but I guess I can let you know. We recently found out that I’m pregnant, and I’m a little bit worried that I might not entirely know how to deal with little kids, since I was the youngest in my family besides Chihiro… I figure spending time around everyone else’s little kids might help me get used to toddlers, at least.” She gripped the handles of her backpack and shrugged, watching Makoto with a tilted head, asking him a question like she didn’t just drop a bombshell moments ago. “How’s Nagito? He hasn’t talked to me or Hajime up, which is weird, but I figured you guys have just been busy with wedding planning and stuff…”

“Well, congratulations! Maybe Sayaka and Leon will even be willing to let you see Aia eventually.” Makoto gave her a bright smile, though it faded rather quickly once he realized he had to talk about his fiance. A heavy sigh left him, and he ran his hand through his hair. “Nagito is… well, Nagito. He had another episode the other day, saying that he was worthless and trying to hurt himself to ‘give everyone else hope’ or something, and as soon as he calmed down I told him that I didn’t want him to do something like that when I wasn’t there to stop him…” He shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. “He doesn’t want to see somebody about his issues, he thinks he’s not worth the cost even though he  _ knows _ we have more than enough to pay for a therapist or meds or whatever he needs, so… we’re delaying the wedding until he finally agrees and gets himself an appointment.”

Of course something like that would happen. Chiaki let out a heavy sigh - she would probably be more worried about her best friend if this wasn’t the sort of thing that happened every other week. Maybe something would actually come of it this time, though, and Nagito would finally at least try to start moving towards recovery. She knew that, as much as he was a little over the top with his self loathing schtick and weird behaviors, he was a good person who cared a lot about his friends and fiance - so he had to be willing to finally give in and take care of himself for everyone else’s sake, right?

Still, she knew better than to really hope, so she let out another sigh and closed her eyes for a moment, feeling very tired suddenly - and not just because of her pregnancy or constant state of sleepiness. The teenage drama of their pasts was long over, but of course life couldn’t be completely free of it - just knowing Nagito and Toko made sure that life was interesting. Depressingly, depressingly interesting. “I’ll see if I can talk to him, or ask Hajime to try. He might listen to one of us.”

“Thanks.” Makoto sighed, and then smiled. “Neither of us is here to worry about the stubborn hope boy, though, and I bet the kids are gonna be happy to see you. I’ll go grab Komaru and tell her you’re here, but I’ll let you give her the good news yourself. Make yourself at home.” He patted her on the shoulder then before walking away, and she heard his footsteps going towards the kitchen; she waited for a second before stepping further into the hallway. She had been to the Fukawa and Naegi residence more than a few times since the lovebirds started living there, so she knew the inside by heart.

Half of the first story of their house was used as the daycare center. They didn’t have an awful lot of space to work with, and didn’t exactly have the ability to tear down walls in their rented space, but what was originally supposed to be a decently sized family room was now a playroom for the kids, and a spare bedroom had turned into a ‘quiet space’ for naptime - or for studying, once the kids got older. It wasn’t awfully convenient for them, but they did a  _ really _ good job with the kids - most of their customers were the children of the other Hope’s Peak alumni, which one would think would hurt the business, but everyone was successful enough that they refused to skimp Komaru and Toko out on any money they could be earning even if they offered (which they did, frequently).

She found the kids in the playroom - Taka and Mondo’s twins Daiya and Danuja were chasing each other around the room, and Sakura and Aoi’s daughter Hanako was sitting in the middle of them, trying to ignore them and playing with some letter blocks. Hanako, being the least distracted and busy of the three of them, noticed her first, let out a squeal of  “Aun’ Chi!” and waddled over to her on chubby toddler legs. Chiaki kneeled in order to catch the three year old before she could fall over onto her, and lifted the giggling toddler - much to her delight.

Chiaki was popular with her friends’ kids, and she wasn’t entirely sure why. Maybe it was because she was a little bit childish herself, maybe it was because she was way more lenient with them than her former classmates or their parents. She had to admit, she enjoyed it - especially now that she was going to have a child of her own. It gave her a lot of hope that her baby wouldn’t hate her, that maybe she could be a fun mom that was really close to her kid through their entire life! She knew that it was a silly thing to think about, but it eased her anxiety about becoming a mother some, so she would live with it. “Hey, kiddo. It’s been a long time since we hung out, hasn’t it?” More like a week, but she supposed that to a toddler, a week probably felt like a long time.

While she had been lost in thought, Daiya and Danaju had waddled their way over and clung to each of her legs. Hanako began babbling excitedly about how her mama was taking her to the pool to swim now and how they were going to be going to a whole other country for the Olympics soon, and how her mom had started teaching her how to punch and kick people if she needed to protect herself. This kid was as much of a chatterbox as ever, her constant words almost exhausting to keep up with.

The twins’ chubby little hands grabbed onto hers free hand and pulled her towards a big chair in the corner of the room. As soon as she was sitting, she had three small children sitting in her lap and talking to her at the same time - Chiaki couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed, but she listened as best she could nonetheless, nodding along with anything they said.

* * *

 

Komaru Naegi walked into the kids’ playroom about twenty minutes after her brother notified her of her friend’s arrival, having needed to take an urgent phone call right after she heard Chiaki enter the townhouse. She was greeted by, undeniably, the single softed sight she had ever seen - the gamer fast asleep in the storytime chair in the corner of the room and Danuja, Daiya, and Hanako sleeping peacefully on top of her, effectively creating a snuggle pile.

It wasn’t naptime, far from it, but Komaru couldn’t bring herself to disturb the peaceful sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you guys so much for the comments on the first chapter!!! i really, really appreciate it! feel free to keep leaving suggestions for the name and gender of hajime and chiaki's baby.
> 
> (i'm not opposed to making them have twins, either ;) )


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime ruins dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted to get this out earlier in the week but then bad mental health hit me like a freight train so it had to wait until 12am on a friday night WOO

When everything was said and done, Komaru took the news very well, and even offered to let Chiaki take up a part time position helping take care of the kids if streaming ever got to be too much for her. She had agreed to that with a solemn nod, said she would think about it, and went home feeling more tired than usual despite her nap. Kids were  _ exhausting  _ \- she supposed she needed to get used to that, though she doubted she would ever have three toddlers at once. Just the idea was enough to make her shudder with fear - she didn’t know what she would  _ do _ if she was having triplets.

As soon as she opened the apartment door, she shuffled inside with a yawn and all but collapsed onto the couch with the full intent to take a nap right there. Before she could let the sweet release of sleep sweep her away, though, her husband had somehow managed to walk out of their bedroom without her hearing him and lay on top of her - though he didn’t put all of his weight on her like he normally would. Chiaki groaned, delicately picking up a pillow to lightly smack Hajime with it.

“I don’t think you should be laying on top of a pregnant lady,” she grumbled, and Hajime rolled off of her; a worried look was on his face for a few seconds before he spotted her half hearted glare and let out a small laugh. Chiaki sighed heavily, though she was a little too sleepy and loved her husband a little too much to stay annoyed, so she sat up and stretched. “What’s more important than me taking a nap?” she asked, straightening out her shirt. She decided not to mention that this was going to be her second nap of the day. Hajime worried enough about her sleeping habits.

“Just a little bit of news,” her husband sat down on the couch, leaning against her, and Chiaki felt her heart melt. “Akane and Sonia are coming for a visit with Hiryur next week, and they’ll be around for about a month. That’s not it, though. Junko told me that Mukuro and Kyoko are going to be moving back here with Izuru.”

Sonia and Akane lived in the Novoselic Kingdom with their three year old son, Hiryur, and it wasn’t very often that they came by for a visit; once a year, if they were lucky. It was really nice to know that they would be around for an entire  _ month. _ It had been even longer, however, since they last saw Mukuro and Kyoko. The two of them were raising Junko’s five year old son, Izuru Enoshima, after she essentially dumped him on her sister and sister in law - she refused to tell much of anybody who the kid’s biological father was, though it was obvious from the way she acted about it that she knew who it was, and she was perfectly content with not really being a presence in her biological son’s life, even suggesting a few times that Kyoko and Mukuro get his last name changed to Ikusaba.

The Kirigiri - Ikusaba - Enoshima family unit had moved to Europe some years back, and according to Junko it had something to do with her sister’s involvement in an organization she couldn’t say much about. Only the evil twin in question had much of any contact with any of the three of them, mostly because Mukuro would bend over backwards for her for better or for worse (usually worse), so it had been four years since anyone else heard from them. Chiaki was excited by the idea of seeing all the friends she hadn’t talked to in a while.

“When are they getting here?” she asked, wrapping her arms around her husband’s middle and nuzzling up to his shoulder; he put an arm around her waist in response, and she looked up at his face with glittering pink eyes. “God, I can’t wait to see all of them, it’s been so long… Izuru must be so big now, he’s like five now, right?” A small laugh. “Oh my god, I bet he’s a terror, being Junko’s son and all. We should have a dinner with everybody, like a high school reunion or something… it’s been ten years as of this May, hasn’t it?”

Her mind was working on overtime, and she pulled out her phone, opening up the messaging app and quickly messaging Teruteru about her idea. He would probably want to cater for it, and she should probably text Sonia and Shigeri too, since they were really into party planning and all that. It might even be a good time to announce that she and Hajime were expecting a baby! She wasn’t normally one to be really into partying or planning for said parties, but once she got into anything, she was focused entirely.

“Sonia and Akane getting here in about a week and Mukuro and Kyoko should be here in just a couple of days,” Hajime laughed lightly, wrapping his arms around her and leaning on her. “Don’t think too much about it, okay? I’m sure everyone will be happy to hang out, regardless of how we do it.” He kissed her cheek, and Chiaki giggled a little, feeling her cheeks light up a faint pink before she wiggled away from him and put her phone down on the couch. “What even is the point in calling it a high school reunion, though? Most of us see each other almost every day. If there’s ever a week where Nagito doesn’t come over, I’ll die from shock.”

Chiaki shrugged, letting out a little sigh. “I dunno, just for the sake of saying we had one, I guess?” She rested her head against Hajime’s, a contented little hum escaping her throat. “Plus, I think it might be a good way to get everyone together so I can tell the entire class at once. The other two, I can probably go through everybody one at a time, but… I think it’d be nice to tell our entire class at once.” She paused for a moment, thinking, then straightened right back up. “Actually, maybe I shouldn’t text Shigeri about planning the party, it might end up like that one on the school trip…”

When they were seniors and about to graduate from Hope’s Peak, they had gone on a school trip to Jabberwock Island that lasted about three weeks, and at the end of the first week, Shigeri Yamamoto - the former Ultimate Imposter and their class president - had decided to throw a party in a building that was going through renovations, and a majority of the class had spent the entire day getting ready for it, only for the party itself to be a disaster. Shigeri ended up knocked out when Komaeda tripped into them, knocked the punch bowl over with them, and generally freaked everybody out. It was a general agreement after that no matter how much Shigeri adored planning parties, they were no longer allowed to.

“That might be a good idea,” Hajime responded with a small chuckle before getting up. “Maybe you should be one of the people planning the party after all, with the track record of everyone else. We can probably think more about that later, though. For now, what do you want for dinner?”

“Springing the decision on me?” Chiaki pouted, turning around to lean over the back of the couch as Hajime went over to the kitchen and leaned on the counter by the stove to await her response. Man, their apartment really was pretty tiny; she would probably need to spend more time looking for a new apartment. Or maybe call a real estate agent, look around at some townhouses or a little place in the suburbs? She was wrapped up enough in these thoughts that she didn’t even remember the question Hajime asked her until he cleared his throat to get her attention. “Oh, uh, ramen, I guess.”

“Sounds good,” Hajime laughed a little, fishing the ingredients he would need out of the pantry and fridge. A moment of silenced passed between them as Chiaki settled back onto the couch, reaching onto a side table to grab onto her 3DS and turn on Animal Crossing, just to waste a little bit of time before her husband finished making dinner - she played on mute just to listen, enjoying the domestic sounds of him cooking. She got wrapped up in running around her village, talking to villagers and doing her general mayoral duties, and was a little bit surprised when Hajime spoke to her again.

“Hey, by the way,” he said, and Chiaki looked back over the couch to look at him - he was still focused on his cooking, having not even looked up at her. “Uh… we don’t even know how far along you are, right? We probably need to go see a doctor, about that and to make sure the baby is healthy and everything. I know we have a lot to do, but we probably need to think about that first.”

She felt the overwhelming pressure of the multiple tasks she needed to get done, and had to hold herself back from smacking her face with her 3DS. Looking into more housing, finding a good doctor, planning the gathering of Hope’s Peak’s 77th class… it was a lot. “I’ll start looking at doctors after dinner,” she spoke up, focusing on the soft nature of the game she was playing to keep herself from getting too terribly overwhelmed. “We need to start thinking about moving, too, unless we feel like turning our living room into a nursery.”

It was barely big enough to even be a living room, and the both of them knew it. There was no way that would be convenient to raise a child in. “How about we start on that tomorrow?” he asked, finally looking over at her; she didn’t look to confirm it, but she could feel his gaze on the back of her head. “We still have a while to look around at real estate, though, and Sonia and Akane won’t be here for another week. How about we concentrate on the doctor’s appointment first, and worry about the rest after we’ve gotten that figured out?” She finally looked over at him, seeing a reassuring smile on his face. Chiaki let out a soft sigh, already feeling a little bit better.

“One thing at a time sounds good,” Chiaki hummed out, closing her 3DS and getting up from the couch before walking over to the kitchen, pulling herself up to sit on the counter next to Hajime. He paused from his cooking then, looking up at her with enough love in his hazel eyes that Chiaki could feel her heart skip a beat and her breathing hitch. “Oh, come on, what are you looking at me like that for?”

“I just love you a lot, that’s all,” Hajime stood up on his tiptoes in order to press a gentle kiss against her lips, which the gamer leaned into with a happy little hum. He planted a little peck against her cheek too, before pulling his face away from hers entirely and resting the side of his head against her stomach. Blinking a little, Chiaki ran her hand through his hair, and sighed softly. “I still can’t believe we’re going to be parents. We’re going to have a  _ baby. _ There is a  _ human being _ growing inside you.”

She had to cover her mouth with the back of her hand to try and suppress and hide a little giggle. “Well, when you say it that way, it sounds weird.” There was no ill intent behind her words, though - a soft, fond smile had crossed her features. “I love you too, though.”

He looked up at her, and the couple smiled at each other, time seeming to stop as they looked into each other’s eyes. Married for years and still acting like a couple of kids in love - that was what their friends were fond of saying, anyway.

The moment of quiet bliss was interrupted rather suddenly, though, by the sudden harsh beeping of the fire alarm above the stove. Hajime pulled away from her almost comically fast, his head whipping around to the stove to find a thick cloud of smoke drifting up from the pot their dinner was cooking in. He quickly covered it and shut off the stove, and stared at his wife with a shocked expression on his face. The two stared at each other for a while, completely stunned, before a stunned laugh suddenly escaped Chiaki.

“Why don’t we go get some fast food tonight?” she asked, still giggling, as Hajime helped her down from the counter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, izuru and hajime aren't the same person in this universe. for the sake of this fic they're identical twin brothers separated at a very young age.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chiaki and Hajime go to visit Kyoko and Mukuro.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i changed this fic's title, it used to be dangkidsronpa!

Pregnancy dreams were something Chiaki had heard about, but not something that she had expected to experience so soon. Other Hope’s Peak alumni that had started having children - especially Ruruka Ando and Hina - had told her about the various vivid dreams they had while carrying their children, brought about by hormone changes and usually relating to their growing families, but Chiaki thought that they didn’t happen until late into her term - but here she was, no more than a couple of months pregnant, deep in sleep and fully aware that she was dreaming. Even with that knowledge, though, she was happy to stand in place, as the scene before her was a peaceful one.

She stood on the beach of Jabberwock Island, a place that she had not seen in ten years but seemed to recall like it was just yesterday. The scent of salt hung heavy in the air, the gentle ebbing of waves soothing to her and the sand hot between her toes. She turned around from the scene after hearing a little giggle behind her, and looked - her husband was playing on the beach with a small child, a little boy with dark brown hair and a radiant smile, his face practically copied from Hajime’s. She couldn’t help but smile fondly at the sight, a calm feeling washing over her.

The streamer turned around completely in order to walk over and join the two of them, the sand shifting beneath her as she moved to her husband and son. Hajime’s arms wrapped around her without hesitation, sandwiching the little boy between them as he picked her up and twirled her, the two of them laughing together before they settled, foreheads together and their son wriggling around against her chest and making soft, dissatisfied noises, as if he wanted to run off and play. Chiaki paid him no mind, though, beginning to get lost in her husband’s hazel eyes, her own becoming half lidded and her breathing becoming shallow as she leaned her face forward in order to press her lips against his in a gentle kiss.

However, the moment of bliss couldn’t last forever, and she found herself blinking her eyes open to stare at the ceiling and letting out a little groan before closing them again. The darkness of the early morning was tempting, bringing her towards her internal snooze button, her mostly asleep body not really processing why she had been woken up from such a pleasant dream. Within moments, though, Chiaki was hit with a strong surge of nausea, and she became painfully aware that it was the reason behind her unceremoniously being ripped from her dream.

Another wave hit her just as soon as the first, and Chiaki hopped out of bed without really thinking about whether Hajime would be disturbed by her sudden movement; all she knew was that she needed to get into the bathroom, and quickly, because everything on her inside seemed to suddenly want to be on her outside. As she burst open the door, not even bothering to turn on the light as she rushed across the bathroom and collapsed over the toilet, she couldn’t help but feel like the magic of pregnancy had vanished and just been replaced by some serious frustration with the little person the size of a raspberry growing inside of her.

She didn’t even notice that Hajime was awake and moving around until she felt her hair be held out of the way of her face and soft lips gently press against the back of her neck. Once the nausea had passed, the streamer weakly flushed the toilet and leaned back against her husband, the back of her head against his chest and her eyes closing as she felt the urge to fall asleep right on the bathroom tiles. She felt him press kisses against her face, and let out a faint giggle, before being pulled up to her feet.

Hajime’s hands rested gently against her stomach, just below her navel, and his head rested against her shoulder. “You need to go easy on your mother so early in the morning,” he scolded their unborn child, poking the area where they were growing gently with his index finger. Chiaki couldn’t help but chuckle slightly, and her husband began to help her walk back into their bedroom. She crawled back into the safety of the covers, and he followed her, curling around her within moments. “Do you think we’ll be able to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl later when we go to the appointment?”

“Mikan says I’m somewhere between eight and ten weeks and you can only tell at sixteen weeks, I think,” Chiaki responded with a soft yawn and hum, fitting her head into the curve of her husband’s throat and closing her eyes, feeling at peace and safe in the quiet moment before her thoughts slowed and her mind went blank, and she fell into a dreamless deep sleep.

* * *

 

It was her suggestion, that they visit Kyoko, Mukuro, and Izuru before they headed to the appointment with the OBGYN. She figured that it would be best to go see them, catch up a little, and announce the pregnancy when they  _ weren’t _ emotional messes after learning more about their unborn child. Not to mention she was just excited in general to go see her old friends and see how much little Izuru Enoshima had grown - the small family had been whisked away when he was very young and it was hard to really tell what he looked like, so she was excited to see how he’d grown.

She wasn’t going to readily admit it, but the fact that she was carrying one was giving her a serious case of baby fever. She told herself that she wanted to learn more about children, figure out what raising one would really be like, but if she was being honest with herself… she kind of just wanted to spend more time around her friends’ kids. Their company had been fun before, but now it was educational. A way to get data, cheat codes, knowledge of how small children worked.

Maybe she would take Komaru up on her offer to work part time at the daycare center after all - stream a little less often until their baby was a bit older. She might feel a little better leaving her firstborn in a daycare center, even one run by two of her friends, if she knew very intimately how it worked. She hummed a little thoughtfully, resting her cheek in her hand as she watched the buildings of the town pass by - catching her husband’s reflection in the window as he drove, a concentrated look on his face.

“I had a dream last night right before I woke up. About you and the baby.” She spoke up without really thinking about it, her gaze still settled on outside the car rather than on Hajime. “In my dream, he was a little boy, and he looked just like you.” She smiled as she remembered the dream, and turned to sit straight in the seat and look over to her husband - she could see a big, kind of goofy smile on his face as well. “Peko said that pregnancy dreams about the baby aren’t always accurate, but… it was nice.”

“It  _ sounds _ like it was really nice,” Hajime couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off his face, and Chiaki’s lips folded upward as she watched him. “Honestly, though, I kind of hope they look more like you than me. I wouldn’t mind either way, but you’re so pretty, and I’m kind of plain looking, you know?” There was a bit of a teasing tone to his voice, and Chiaki pouted for just a moment, and her first instinct was to argue with her husband on that - he tended to be too self deprecating for his own good, and she never really let him talk all too much about him being unremarkable or talentless.

“Well,  _ I _ think that any kid we make together is going to be cute. You’re really handsome, and I’m really pretty, so nothing can really go wrong with our genetics, right?” She gave him a gentle smile, and moved in order to lean her head against his upper arm. Chiaki looked up at Hajime, and spotted a gentle blush spreading across his cheeks and nose; she let out a little giggle.

It didn’t take very long to reach the apartment building where Mukuro and Kyoko were living, and Chiaki didn’t hesitate to hop out and grab onto her husband’s hand, and the two of them walked into the building and were buzzed into the apartment where their friends were living at the moment. Both Kyoko and Mukuro looked exhausted, probably from having to deal with so many Hope’s Peak alumni even though it wasn’t even noon yet and they had been on a plane for a pretty big part of the day. “It’s good to see you guys,” Kyoko spoke nonetheless, a faint smile on her face - she  _ never _ smiled, so Chiaki felt a little bit honored that she would do so now.

“So, how was Europe?” Chiaki asked, gently holding onto her friend’s hand as Kyoko began talking about what she was legally allowed to without getting herself or her wife in trouble. Descriptions of minor things, like their daily lives or what the people were like - apparently, they moved back and forth between England, France, and Germany. She talked a lot about Izuru, too, how he was absolutely nothing like Junko - and how much that was a relief to both her and Mukuro. As she listened with interest, though, she found her gaze wandering over to Mukuro herself, standing a little bit behind her wife and keeping quiet and thoughtful. Chiaki became curious, though, when she noticed her underlying expression.

Mukuro tried to be emotionless, but the gears in her head were visibly turning, and she was watching Hajime carefully - thinking about something, looking like she wanted to talk but holding herself back. Chiaki’s instinct was to cut Kyoko off and ask Mukuro what she was thinking about so hard, if anything was wrong, but before she got the chance to talk, she noticed one of the doors of the apartment opening up and the blonde pigtails of Junko Enoshima walking out, a five year old boy held in her arms.

Chiaki grinned, and she was about to walk over and tell the boy that he had grown so much and she was so glad to see him again, but before she could his head of long black hair shifted and a very sleepy little Izuru Enoshima looked over at her. Strands of hair fell out of his face, and curious, sleepy bright red eyes looked over at her; wisdom and intelligence beyond his years clear in his expression and the way he looked around at the world. What she was focused on, though, were his features.

He looked exactly like her husband. His eye shape, his nose, his chin.

She supposed that it could be a coincidence, that Junko just fucked someone that looked exactly like Hajime, but… what were the odds of that, really? She thought back on the years that she had been with her husband - they started dating when they were in their first year of high school, there was no way he could have fathered a son without having cheated on her. Chiaki didn’t  _ want _ to think about it. It was a possibility, though - they had been in close quarters with Junko for such a long time.

She looked over at Hajime, looking for some kind of affirmation,  _ any _ kind of affirmation, and he saw the same shock and confusion that she felt at the moment. That was a little bit relaxing, at least, to know that he was as confused as she was. Still, she could feel an overwhelming feeling surrounding her, so she blurted out a quick apology, turned on her heel, and left the apartment.

The streamer could hear her husband following behind her, but she didn’t turn to face him until they were both outside. She spun around on her heel, grabbing onto Hajime’s shirt, pink eyes staring into his hazel, searching hard for any little sign that he might be lying as she powered through her anxiety surrounding eye contact. “He isn’t yours, right? Not biologically.”

“Chiaki.” He spoke her name seriously, hands going to rest on top of hers. “No, of course not. I’ve never been with anyone but you. I love you so much, too much to even think about sleeping with anyone else. My heart has belonged to you since high school. I promise.”

She sucked in a small breath and released it, wrapping her arms tightly around Hajime and resting her head against his chest.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chiaki and Hajime drive home; Komaeda comes in for a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #letkomaedaheal2k18

Ten weeks.

That was what the doctor said. The baby was only about an inch long, with a big old forehead. The drama of the earlier parts of the day were completely forgotten, and the doctor explained that she would give Chiaki her first ultrasound - a painless process, to make sure that the baby’s bones were developing alright and that everything was okay. She shivered as the doctor put cold gel on her belly, reaching out for Hajime’s hand and taking it - she wasn’t sure if she was feeling more nervous or excited as the doctor began searching for the baby.

“We can expect a late July due date,” the doctor told her with a smile before sending Chiaki and Hajime on their way. “As the baby develops, we’ll be able to tell easier how healthy they are and when we should expect them to be born. For the moment, I can definitely tell you that the baby looks happy and healthy, and as long as you eat healthy and keep up a positive lifestyle, there’s nothing to worry about.” With that, the couple nodded and left, Chiaki holding onto Hajime’s arm tightly - the two of them were overwhelmed, though not in a bad way; so many good things at once could only mute you.

Chiaki only pulled away from her husband in order to open the passenger side door on the car and climb in, and Hajime sat down next to her in order to start the car and pull out of the parking spot. “I feel a little bit better with one thing crossed off the list,” the streamer spoke softly, looking down at the grainy black and white image of their unborn child. It was hard to tell anything about the image, but she could clearly make out the baby’s head, body, and feet, and one little hand - she gently pressed her index finger against the spot where the baby’s hand could be seen, her heart swelling in her chest and a soft sigh escaping from her nose as she closed her eyes for just a moment.

“I gotta say that I feel better, too,” Hajime responded to her with a small smile on his face. He reached one hand over, and Chiaki removed her hand from the picture in order to take a tight, caring hold. “Now that the ball’s rolling, everything else will be pretty easy, you know?” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and then grabbed back onto the steering wheel and keep his full attention on the road ahead of them. Chiaki went quiet then, content to watch her husband and the picture in her hands.

A quick stop was made to a fast food joint, in order to get a quick lunch - Chiaki almost made a joke about how she was literally just told to eat healthy, but her growling stomach kept her from doing so and she chose to quickly eat the sustenance offered to her. She and Hajime rambled on for a while, about pretty much anything, and the streamer had to admit that it was nice to spend time with her husband; they didn’t get an awful lot of days where both of them had nothing going on, between Hajime’s job and Chiaki’s unforgiving stream schedule. She would have to dial back on that a bit, she supposed, considering she was pregnant and would have a kid to take care of externally soon.

_ That _ was weird to her; even with conversations that they had a while back about whether or not they’d ever have kids, she always saw it as something in her distant future. Even with what her friends had described as wisdom beyond her years, she still thought of herself as very young, she supposed - she had a little bit of growing up left to do, too, she realized. It was nothing she couldn’t handle, though, she was sure of that much; she was nervous, sure, but not afraid.

“So when we move into a bigger place,” Hajime was the one to break the easy silence between them on the way home, and though Chiaki’s gaze snapped to meet him, his gaze didn’t move from the road, “are we going to want to look for an apartment building near where we are? Or maybe a townhouse or a condo or something. I don’t think it’s really realistic for us to move out of the city, considering commuting from the suburbs to my job is pretty inconvenient…”

“I think just a bigger apartment could work,” Chiaki chirped easily. She liked living in an apartment, with neighbors around her so she was never truly alone, cheap commodities right in the building, and everything so close by. Maybe that was the city girl part of her talking, but she couldn’t really see herself leaving in favor of something else - not yet, anyway. “It would probably be a lot cheaper and easier than trying to find a townhouse or a condo, anyway… it might be nice to find one close to where we’re living now, so we don’t have to figure out new routes.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Hajime nodded, pulling into the parking lot of the apartment building they lived in and hopping out. Chiaki was getting ready to get out herself, but before she could her husband was already at the passenger door, opening it for her and holding out his arm for her to take. The gamer giggled faintly, but took him up on his offer, and the two of them walked back to their tiny apartment together; Chiaki was beginning to realize how sleepy she was after the day’s events as Hajime unlocked the door and held it open for her to hurry inside.

She held tightly onto Hajime’s hand and dragged him into their bedroom with her, collapsing into the still messy sheets and pulling him down next to her. She heard him let out a small laugh, but she paid him no mind, wrapping herself around him like a baby koala and nuzzling her face against his chest affectionately. “It’s naptime,” she announced as if he hadn’t probably figured that out already, looking up at his amused and loving face one more time before pink eyes closed.

* * *

 

She wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep curled up with her husband when she was woken up by the rapid fire ringing of her apartment doorbell. Chiaki rolled over ever so slightly to remove herself from Hajime, who didn’t seem to be terribly bothered by the bell - he was probably more sleep deprived than she was, so she figured she shouldn’t bother him, choosing instead to roll out of bed and to her feet. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” she called out as soon as she left the bedroom, and as soon as her voice rang out through the apartment the ringing stopped.

Chiaki unlocked and pulled open her front door, and she had to admit that the last thing she expected to find was Nagito Komaeda - less because of his presence at her home, which was pretty frequent, and more because he looked like a complete mess, tear stains down his cheeks, hair messy and clothes mussed up. He usually had bad mental health days and showed up at their apartment at least once a week, but most of the time he at least tried to clean himself up and pretend that nothing was wrong and he was a piece of trash not worth Hajime and Chiaki’s time. It was weird for him to not bother.

The lanky man rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, and Chiaki stumbled backward a couple of steps, but she didn’t hesitate in returning the hug gently. “Are you okay?” she asked, her voice careful and quiet, and Komaeda nodded against her shoulder - still lying to avoid worrying her despite probably already knowing that wasn’t going to happen.

Trying to do so without disturbing him, Chiaki kicked the front door closed and gently guided him into the kitchen. Komaeda collapsed onto the kitchen table, his head in his arms, and the streamer made her way into the kitchen without really thinking about it, and turned on the coffee maker while glancing at the time - only about two in the afternoon, so she had only been asleep for an hour. Once the pot of coffee was done, she slid a cup to Komaeda, though she didn’t pour one for herself, and sat down at the table across from him; letting him sip at the beverage and waiting for him to speak up.

“Makoto wants me to get help before we can have the wedding,” Komaeda said quietly, though he didn’t look up at her. He had made progress in letting himself look more vulnerable in recent years, at least, not just laughing it off whenever he had a problem, but he still struggled with some severe self esteem problems. “I’ve been thinking about it since he said it, and no matter how I see it, I just don’t think I’m worth it. I think the money and the therapist’s time would be better spent on somebody else, somebody more talented and good than I am.” He slid his coffee away, and his head thunked gently against the table as he lowered it with a groan. “I don’t know, Chiaki.”

She thought in relative silence for a couple of minutes, pink eyes watching her friend carefully and her head tilted at a slight angle. She knew her friend well enough that she was sure her reassurances would probably not do much to help him; his self loathing was seated so deep that only a professional would probably even be able to begin sorting through that mess. The streamer felt bad about it, really; Komaeda was her best friend since their high school days, and she’d always been relatively powerless when it came from helping him with anything. He listened to her and Hajime more than anyone else, at least, but he still was usually content to drag himself through the dirt.

Maybe the fact that he’d even been thinking about his fiance’s decision to hold off the wedding until he got help was a sign that things were changing. Chiaki put her hands in her hoodie pockets, letting her thumb gently pass over the slick material of the ultrasound that still sat there; she let out a small breath, and gave Komaeda a gentle, caring smile. “Well, Nagito, I think everyone has the right to heal,” she spoke, her words slow and careful as she reached across the table to rest one of her hands over one of her friend’s. “You know, Hajime used to see someone about some issues with anxiety and inferiority and stuff… I think it’s the same therapist Peko sees. If you want, I can look for her number?”

She put a little more force behind her words than was probably necessary. She phrased it like a suggestion, but she wanted to be firm - Komaede genuinely did need help, more than she or any of their other friends could give them, and now that he was so close to actually reaching out and getting it, especially now that he had an actual incentive to get better, she wasn’t about to let him leave without a business card. What she hadn’t been expecting, though, was for the infamously stubborn Nagito Komaeda to nod and let out a tiny, tired “okay” so easily and quickly.

Still, Chiaki didn’t hesitate in getting up and walking over to the stack of papers left usually forgotten on their kitchen counter, digging around for a little while until she found, at least, a paper with some details of one of Hajime’s last visits to said therapist on it; she scribbled the phone number on the paper down on a napkin, and handed it to Komaeda. The pale man stared at her somewhat sloppy handwriting before getting to his feet and throwing his arms around her, giving a gentle squeeze.

“Thank you,” he whispered to her, his voice quiet and meek, and Chiaki could only think to carefully rub his back and let him calm down until he put his mask of a smile back on and left.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chiaki and Hajime spend some time together, and run into Ibuki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk why writing is so hard for me right now but it is!!!!!

“This one’s a good size.”

Hajime leaned over Chiaki’s shoulder, pointing at an apartment listing and prompting the gamer to click on it. Two bed, one bath, a decently sized kitchen and living space; size wize, it looked perfect, and the images looked relatively clean and well lit, but as she scrolled down to the services offered, she wrinkled her nose a little and shook her head. “No on-site laundry, no air conditioning, no pets allowed?  I don’t think so, Hajime. I can do without one or two of those but I’m not going to go without all three. Not to mention it’s a little bit too far away from where you work.” She closed out of the new tab she opened, and began scrolling through the apartment listings instead.

They had been searching for a new apartment to move into for over and hour, and had yet to find anything that was anywhere near perfect. All the places they had looked at so far were too big, too expensive, too poor quality, too few amenities… Chiaki never knew that apartment hunting could be such a pain, considering how easy moving into their current tiny one was. They had been fresh out of college then, broke and young and just looking for a place to ensure they weren’t homeless, and it had worked okay for them so far. They always knew it was temporary, but now they were on a time crunch.

They were a little older, had a little bit bigger of a budget from their relatively successful careers, and were about to start a family. Hajime and Chiaki both found their standards rising almost dramatically quickly, wanting only the best for their unborn baby and any other future children, and figuring if they could afford to have something nice then they might as well get one. “Do you think we should get an extra bedroom?” Hajime asked, head leaning against Chiaki’s. “Just in case we decide to have another kid. It could probably be used as an office if that doesn’t happen.”

“Good idea.” Chiaki nodded, opening the website’s sidebar to adjust their search. “Maybe if I add the stuff that we actually want we can find something good soon, too. I just don’t know if we’ll end up getting a bunch of results way too expensive if we look for  _ everything _ in one apartment, ‘cause like we agreed, we can live without one or two of them.” Still, she clicked a few extra boxes, and updated their search to put a bunch of places they’d already decided against onto the screen alongside some new ones.

It didn’t take too long of scrolling through them for one to catch Chiaki’s attention, and Hajime leaned a little bit closer to the screen over her shoulder to get a better look. She let out a soft little hum as she read the listing on the apartment; close to where they lived now, within their price range, the perfect size for what they needed, the perfect set of amenities for themselves and their future child or children. It almost seemed too good to be true, but the gamer knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Should we go meet with an agent on Saturday? That’s your next day off, right?” She tilted her head slightly to look at Hajime, and found him studying the screen with a pensive and thoughtful expression on his face; he nodded, and Chiaki quickly filled out the form to get an appointment with the building’s owner and have a look at the apartment. She would have to cross her fingers and pray to whatever was out there that nobody else would get their hands on it first.

After exchanging a couple of messages with the owner of the building to confirm when they would be checking out the apartment, Chiaki shut down the computer and let her husband take her hand to lead her out of the apartment. He had been a little more frantic to move around and get out of the building since she announced her pregnancy, and if she was being honest, Chiaki didn’t blame him; with a baby on the way, the small size of their living space had become twice as apparent. She was far from an outdoorsman, so she had a tendency to just let Hajime lead her wherever he felt like going at the moment.

That day’s journey led them to the small park near their apartment building, sitting together on a bench overlooking a small frozen pond with trees swaying in the December wind. Chiaki was shivering slightly in the cold, scooted up as close to Hajime as she could possibly get and holding his hand between their laps as she looked out at the other people going for walks around the park. “I can’t believe we’re going to be parents,” she spoke, her voice quiet as she rested her head against his shoulder.

“Me either,” Hajime sighed and gently squeezed her hand. “It kind of feels like we’re still kids ourselves, you know? What are we supposed to do with a  _ baby _ ?” His anxiety was more than a little clear in his voice, and Chiaki felt her heart drop ever so slightly. She couldn’t help but wonder if he had been thinking like this ever since she told him that she was pregnant, and if he had, why hadn’t he told her? The pregnancy was unplanned, a little bit of anxiety was a given, but… she knew her husband had a tendency to overthink everything, but she didn’t want it to go too far.

“Hey, we’ll be great parents, I think,” she encouraged him as best she could, smiling softly and looking over at him - he didn’t return her small smile; his brows were furrowed and a small, anxious frown was on his face. “Hey, bad parents don’t worry about whether or not they’re gonna suck. We might struggle a little bit, but it’ll be okay, we’ll settle into parenthood and our baby is gonna grow up happy and healthy and everything’s gonna be alright.”

“What if we don’t know what we’re doing, though?” Hajime asked, his voice quiet as he gently rested one hand against Chiaki’s currently flat stomach; she straightened up a little so he could, gently resting one of her own against it. “I don’t… wanna mess them up because I don’t know how to be a father, Chiaki. Our baby deserves to have parents who can handle raising them. I know that you can, because you’re good at everything you try, but… but what about me?”

She scoffed a little, gently putting her free hand against Hajime’s cheek to make him look at her. “Good at everything? Please, Hajime, I’m only good at video games, and spending thousands of hours playing the Sims isn’t much of a base for raising kids.” A small, amused smile appeared on his face, and Chiaki leaned forward a little in order to press a gentle kiss against the corner of his lips. “We’ll go to parenting classes and stuff and we’ll make sure we have everything we need. We already know that we can support our baby, and we know that we love each other a lot. That’s all we need at the beginning when we’re just starting to work on preparing to raise them.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Hajime replied quietly, a faint laugh leaving him, and Chiaki watched his face carefully for a few moments. Watched the affection in his hazel eyes, the way his breath was visible in the cold and his shoulders began to move down as he relaxed. She leaned a little closer to him, and pressed her lips to his soft and warm ones, moved the hand on his cheek to his knee. He was a little surprised, tensed just a little before leaning into the kiss.

Hajime’s free hand went to rest against her hip as he leaned against her and deepened the kiss, and if just sitting with him in the winter peace of the park didn’t make her completely forget that they were in public, that sure did. He pushed against her ever so slightly, and she leaned back, her elbow supporting her against the bench as she let out the slightest groan against her husband’s lips. Part of her felt like it was weird that they were making out in a park, but… this was an isolated part of it, all the other couples were a pretty good distance away, she figured it was fine.

Until, of course, she heard a rather shrill and familiar voice shouting for them.

“Heyyyyy, Hajime and Chiakiiiii!” Ibuki Mioda hollered, and Hajime jerked off of her; Chiaki gasped for breath, a dark blush appearing across her cheeks as she was pulled up from her leaning position and turned her head to watch as the musician hurried over to them. “Mikan told Ibuki that you two are having a baby! I’m  _ sooooo _ excited for you guys! Can I be the godmother?”

Chiaki shushed her quickly, getting up from the bench in order to gently grab onto her friend’s elbows. “I’m glad you’re excited, but please don’t yell,” she pleaded gently, and when Ibuki gave a nod of understanding she let out a slight, relieved sigh. “You can be the godmother if you  _ promise _ not to tell anyone else just yet, okay? We’re going to announce it to everyone when we have that big party when Sonia and Akane come to visit.” She felt a twinge of nervousness actually telling somebody else about the plan, but also a twinge of excitement.  _ This was real. _

Of course, there was a small part of her that was also frustrated with Mikan for going out and spilling the beans about her pregnancy. She had explicitly asked her, Peko, and Chihiro not to tell anybody about it just yet, not until she or Hajime had the chance to tell them, and they had all agreed. She supposed she couldn’t necessarily blame the nurse for talking to her wife about it, though - Mikan kind of lacked a filter sometimes, especially when she was talking to someone she was totally devoted to. Ibuki had gotten her to get help for the level of dependence she so frequently fell into before they even started dating back in high school, so she wasn’t as much of a devoted mess as she used to be, but… she still had a tendency to spill others’ secrets to her wife without a second thought.

“Of course! You can trust Ibuki!” The musician winked before pulling Chiaki in for a tight, tight hug that very nearly took the gamer’s breath out of her. “I’m just so happy for you! You’re going to make such wonderful parents, I know it! Ibuki can’t wait for her little niece!”

“We actually don’t know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl yet,” Hajime tried to tell her, despite almost definitely knowing full well that it was impossible. Chiaki knew that she could only take Ibuki’s promise not to tell anyone at face value; she had a tendency to blurt anything out when asked even slightly about the situation of anyone at all. She was more than used to it, which only fed into her annoyance with Mikan - she would have to have a talk with her later.

“Ibuki can sense that it’s going to be a little girl!” the musician declared, one fist connecting with her chest and a massive grin on her face. Chiaki almost wanted to laugh at how determined she was with this prediction, and a part of her almost hoped that the baby would be a girl to make Ibuki think she was good at predicting. “I was right when Peko and Fuyuhiko had Aia, and I was right when Rantaro and Kokichi had Kasumi! Ibuki is very good at this! Better than Hiro, even!”

Of course, Chiaki knew that she just always guessed it was going to be a girl and just happened to be right every so often, but she wasn’t about to rain on her parade. As Ibuki chattered on, she gently squeezed her husband’s hand; hoping that her words would stick.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chiaki has some introspection, and hangs out with Junko for a little while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact im basing hajime and chiaki's relationship on me and my boyfriend

It was snowing outside when Chiaki stepped outside, a thick blanket around her shoulders as she leaned against the balcony of her apartment and looked out over the city. She sighed, seeing her breath in the cold and smiling ever so slightly. She liked the cold; it made her feel a little more human, a little more alive after having spent a lot of her teenage years in a depressed and sleepy haze, moving from one thing to the other. Adulthood and her friendships had worked her out of that dark time, and now that she had a baby on the way, she was in love with being alive… it was just nice to have a reminder every so often.

She folded her arms on the fence of the balcony, and rested her chin upon them, looking over the lights of the city. She wondered what was going on in all of the apartments and houses and shops in town; maybe some couples were out on a date, maybe some friends were hanging out, maybe some students were pulling all nighters studying. Maybe some babies were being born - maybe some were being made. How Chiaki’s thoughts ran wild when her mind wasn’t distracted by video games… she let out a little sigh, brushed her fingers against her stomach, not yet showing.

“You’re going to catch a cold,” she heard Hajime say behind her as he stepped outside to join her, leaning against the fencing of the balcony next to her and giving her a small smile. Chiaki leaned her head against her husband’s upper arm, closing her eyes and letting out a satisfied hum. “What are you thinking about so hard? I don’t see you concentrating on anything but Animal Crossing this hard,” he teased her playfully, moving her hair out of her face in order to his lips against the gamer’s forehead, and she couldn’t help but giggle softly, ever pleased with receiving affection from the love of her life.

“Just about how weird it is that we don’t know any of the lives going on around us,” she replied, voice quiet; she didn’t look over at him, but she did look up at the snow filling the dark sky with specks of white, only visible because of the many lights of the city. “Isn’t that weird, how everyone has their own little soul, their own lifetime? Nobody can know all of the details except for them, even their friends and loved ones. It’s like everyone is the protagonist of their own story, and all the other people are NPCs… even when it comes to married couples and parents with their children…”

“But people are more than just characters, don’t you think?” Hajime asked, and Chiaki assumed he was watching her as she reached an arm up to feel the cold night air, the snow landing on her skin. “You wouldn’t bonk somebody on the head with a net just because you’re bored, or battle their pets to steal their money when they’re down. Life’s more than just a video game, right?”

She thought about telling him that for years of her life, she used video games to cope with her depression and trouble with her grades and family. That the line between games and reality had been blurred until it was barely visible, and she used to think of real people as nothing more than characters aiding her on her quest. How she sometimes reverted back to that mindset even now, when she was happy and married and doing what the loved. She decided against it, though; she knew Hajime had his own issues with anxiety even if he didn’t talk to her about them often, and she didn’t want him to worry.

Even so, she made a mental note to look into it, see if a psychiatrist might be necessary. The last thing Chiaki wanted to do was ignore a potential mental health problem, especially now with a child on the way - someone was going to depend on her soon enough. She was going to have to give up all of her time and effort in order to bring someone up. 

The thought almost made her shudder. She had been spending so much time reassuring Hajime that she hadn’t even considered her own fear and insecurities. All she knew was video games, memorizing formulas to win, but… people couldn’t be defined by code, especially children.

“You went quiet again,” Hajime told her, brushed the rest of her hair out of the way and held her face in his hands. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked up at him, looked deep into loving hazel eyes - she struggled with making eye contact with almost everyone, but never with Hajime. Chiaki absolutely adored him, and she knew he felt the same way - the only person in the world she trusted more than her husband was her cousin.

She didn’t answer him verbally; instead, she took a step forward to wrap her arms around him, cheek resting against his chest. He held her close, pressed a kiss against her hairline on her forehead and let out a soft sigh against her hair. “I’m just thinking, it’s nothing to worry about,” she spoke softly after a few moments, feeling a warm sensation spreading through her chest. Suddenly, she couldn’t really feel the cold of the night air anymore; could only feel the pleasant affection and love in her mind and heart. “You know that if I ever have an issue that’s really important, I’ll tell you about it. I promised you that.”

Years ago, when they were still in high school and he caught her having a mental breakdown on the floor of her dorm when she failed to beat a final boss and everything that had been piling up on her made her go into hysterics. She remembered crying, clinging to him and repeating over and over that she wasn’t really the ultimate gamer if she couldn’t even do this right. It wasn’t something she was proud of… she didn’t like thinking about how badly she’d worried him when she was the one that was supposed to be helping him with his issues.

She knew he loved her just as much, and that he had promised so many times that he would help her just as much, but… Chiaki couldn’t help but feel a sense of duty when it came to helping other people. She had always been empathetic, good at putting others first and giving them reasonable advice… encouraging them when they needed it. She had kind of grown to believe that it was all she was good for, because video games were hardly a good and useful skill. She’d been trying to grow past that, because that mindset combined with her tendency to view people as NPCs when things got rough in her own mind was hardly healthy. Guilt still stook out when she needed anything, though.

“I know, and I trust you to do exactly that,” Hajime responded, brushing his lips against her forehead in a gentle kiss before he pulled his head back and gave her a small smile. “How about we head back inside, go to bed and get some rest?”

She hesitated for just a moment, but nodded and allowed her husband to lead her inside.

* * *

 

Junko Enoshima was a good friend. She could get bratty and brutal, but she was intelligent and more than willing to do favors, kind when she wasn’t busy being cruel. She was fun to hang out with, funny and bubbly and charismatic with a million thoughts bubbling and developing just under the surface. She was an enigma that very few could even hope to figure out; her twin sister and Celestia Ludenberg were the only two that had ever hoped to try, and they were both more than a little mysterious themselves.

That didn’t mean that she wasn’t exhausting to be around more than half the time, though.

The fashionista was rambling about her most recent photoshoot and sipping at a (very expensive) coffee, not seeming to notice that Chiaki was barely listening, more focused on the shapes of the clouds above them. She would wait for a break to come in Junko’s incessant rambling before she could get a word in - that was always what it was like to hang out with her. Her self absorbed behavior could catch breaks every so often, but it wasn’t common - so if the gamer ever wanted to have an actual conversation, she would have to take the opportunity immediately.

There was a pause in Junko’s words, and Chiaki rushed the opportunity to say something. “Hey, I actually have a question for you.” She put one hand down on the table, giving Junko a bright smile to disguise her nervousness. “Um… you never told anybody who your kid’s father is. I get it if it’s something you’d rather keep quiet, but… could you just… tell me? I don’t mean to push, but when we came over to see Mukuro and Kyoko, I noticed that he kind of looked like…”

“Hajime.” Junko interrupted her, looking more serious than Chiaki had ever seen her before. “He looks like Hajime, I know, but I can promise you that it’s not him. You two have been together since high school, I wouldn’t mess with that…” A small pause, a teasing smile appearing across Junko’s features as she leaned a little bit closer to the gamer. When she spoke again, her tone was full of playful venom; Chiaki could tell her words weren’t completely cruel. “Besides, he isn’t even my type. A little too plain, if I do say so myself. I’ll leave that kind of guy to you.”

“You shouldn’t say things like that,” Chiaki scolded her nonetheless, letting out a sigh as she sipped at her latte. She trusted Hajime’s word, of course, but she… felt a little better after getting the reassurance from someone else that knew the truth, as ashamed as she was to admit it. “Is there a possibility that they could be related, though? I mean, I’m sure Hajime would like to know if he has family somewhere. He hasn’t really spoken to his parents in a while, from what he’s told me they weren’t exactly the most doting people in the world…”

“It’s possible.” Junko shrugged, taking another sip of her expensive coffee and tapping manicured fingernails against the dark wood of the table. “We dated for a while after high school, but he never told me anything about his family life. Maybe if I can get into contact with him someday, I’ll ask him.” A soft sigh left her; Chiaki had never seen the fashionista look sad about anything before, let alone about a failed relationship. She just assumed that Junko had a lot of failed romances and just let them roll off her back like water. “Honestly, I don’t think he ever found out that I got pregnant. I never got the chance to tell him before he went off to wherever he is now.”

The model’s shoulders had drooped, and she was looking down at her drink with sad blue eyes. Chiaki… felt bad for her. She reached one hand out, rested it on Junko’s arm as the gamer gave her a bright smile. “Well, I’m proud of you for getting through that. That’s… really brave and strong, and I’m glad you recognized your limits and left Izuru with Mukuro and Kyoko. You’re a lot cooler than I thought you were, Junko!” She hoped that was encouraging.

Junko let out a little laugh, a small smile appearing on her face as she let herself have just a second of weakness more. “Thanks, Chiaki,” she spoke quietly, and then put her usual bright smile back on, straightened back up as she got up to her feet.

“Well, I have to go. I promised Mukuro I would help her and Kyoko do some unpacking today and hang out with Izuru. I’ll see you around, yeah?”

“Yeah. Sounds good.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A month goes by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oogh i'm stressed about writing the party and stuff hewp me how do write many characters together

Chiaki didn’t notice the small swell now showing on her belly herself. She was standing in the shower, washing her hair, when the bathroom door opened and she heard footsteps approach the shower. She wasn’t surprised or flustered when Hajime stepped in; it was something they’d been doing for productivity’s sake for years, showering at the same time to save time and money on their water bills. Chiaki didn’t acknowledge her husband at first, eyes still closed as she hummed some song from a Pokémon soundtrack to herself and rinsed the shampoo from her hair; she felt a gentle hand against her lower stomach, just underneath her belly button, and opened her eyes.

“You’ve got a bump,” Hajime spoke softly, his other hand going to rest against her cheek. “Chiaki, they’re  _ growing, _ they’re getting bigger.” His voice was filled with wonder and joy, and Chiaki couldn’t help but giggle ever so slightly. Happy about his happiness, happy that their unborn child was doing well; she looked down at her stomach, and just as he said, there was a very, very small bump there. She was pretty chubby to begin with, so it wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world, but it was there. She couldn’t help but let out a soft incredulous laugh, her hand going over her husband’s.

“We really are going to be parents,” she spoke quietly, unable to wipe the smile from her face as Hajime rested his forehead against hers; a bit of an odd feeling with water hitting her back and her bangs soaking wet and sticking to him ever so slightly, but it was comfortable. It was safe, familiar. Her heart swelled. “We’re really going to have a baby, the most beautiful baby in the world with the most loving parents in the world… and they’re growing, and they’re healthy, and I…” She swallowed, feeling tears beginning to well up in her eyes and a lump forming in her throat. “I’m so happy.”

“I’m happy too,” Hajime spoke softly, his lips brushing against hers in a brief and chaste kiss before he pulled back from her. He was still smiling softly and lovingly, and Chiaki had to bite down the urge to giggle like a lovesick teenager. “But… we should probably finish showering before we run out of hot water and have to go to that appointment freezing cold. I think I heard on the weather that it’s supposed to snow a lot more today, and I don’t think either of us need frozen hair.”

“It’s been snowing a lot lately. I hope it doesn’t become a problem.” There already had been more snow on the ground than in most previous years, and it was only January; with her being in her early pregnancy and needing to get to the doctor for early appointments and in case of emergency, this wasn’t a fantastic winter to end up getting snowed in. Of course, at any stage in her pregnancy it probably wouldn’t be ideal, but… she was slightly paranoid about something going wrong. Chiaki was excited to become a mother, already protective of the baby growing inside of her.

* * *

 

She winced as gel was put against her belly; it wasn’t painful or anything like that, but it was cold and slimy and uncomfortable, and Chiaki didn’t particularly enjoy this part of getting to see her unborn baby. Hajime squeezed her hand gently, soothingly, and Chiaki felt herself get a little bit less tense at the reminder that her husband was there, she wasn’t alone, everything was fine. This was a pleasant but nerve wracking experience almost every time, due to a combination of the gel and a general anxiety that something would be wrong, there would be no heartbeat, something would be off with the ultrasound.

Her first worry was put at ease rather quickly when the sound of her heartbeat filled the room, a smaller, quicker one alongside it. “There’s the baby,” the doctor was smiling as she pointed to the screen and the heartbeat being recorded there. “They sound nice and strong, and just from here I can tell that they’re growing nice and healthy right now. But we’re going to get an ultrasound to double check and show you exactly how much bigger they are than they were last month, okay?”

“Okay,” Chiaki agreed with a nod, resting her head against Hajime’s arm and looking up at him; he was smiling, wide and happy, and her heart swelled. She turned her attention then to the screen that would show them the grainy image of their baby, watched the doctor adjust how she was holding the wand until the silhouette of their unborn baby was visible. Her breath left her body rather quickly; she could make out the head rather easily, two little arms and a tummy. She blinked, feeling tears beginning to form in her eyes. “Oh, they’re beautiful,” she spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.

They looked a little compressed, almost alien like; but that didn’t stop them from being the most beautiful unborn baby she had ever seen. “They’re the right size for a three month old fetus, and it looks like they’re developing at the right pace. You have nothing to worry about; just make sure that you eat healthily, get a good amount of easy exercise, and get a lot of rest, and the baby should stay healthy. Don’t overwork yourself and don’t eat a lot of junk food; a little is okay, but not a lot.”

She nodded in agreement, listened to the doctor talk for a little longer about what she needed to do to keep herself and the baby healthy, and got to her feet and pulled her shirt back down when she was told that she could. Chiaki happily took the two printed out copies of the ultrasound she was handed, and passed the second one to Hajime, who was standing behind her with one arm around her middle and his chin resting against the top of her head.

“I can’t wait to hold them,” Hajime spoke softly, and Chiaki hummed in agreement. She was nervous, but with every moment that passed, she became a little bit more confident that she and her husband would be perfectly fine parents.

* * *

 

Sonia and Akane were set to be landing in the airport the very next day, so Chiaki was more than a little stressed about moving into their new apartment so soon after putting the money in for it and so soon before she was going to be throwing something of a reunion for her graduating class. Still, she didn’t voice those concerns as she walked around the mostly empty apartment; instructed the friends that had come to help them move their furniture on where to put things.

She kind of wished she could do more to help, but she didn’t exactly have a lot of upper body strength to begin with, and she knew that moving around so much and doing heavy lifting probably wasn’t good for the baby. So Chiaki trailed behind Nekomaru and Mondo as they carried her desk and PC respectively as they moved into the room that she had decided would be her office (the smaller of the two empty bedrooms, because she wanted her child to have a bigger bedroom than her computer got) and pointed at a wall in the back, watching them set the stuff down for her and Hajime to assemble later.

Mondo left the room immediately, but before she could follow him, Nekomaru stopped her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. Chiaki turned around, furrowed her brows when she saw his worried eyes and kind smile. “Hey, Chi,” he spoke in a voice that was a lot softer than he usually expressed, softness he only usually showed when he was concerned. “You’ve been acting a little different lately. I’m just kinda worried. You’re not sick or anything, are you?”

The gamer had to hold down the ability to laugh, and shook her head with a fond smile on her face. “No, no, I’m not sick. It’s nothing to worry about, I promise. I’m going to talk about it when we have the party in a few days, or else I would explain now.” She put one hand over the one on her shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze, and Nekomaru let her go. He blinked, and she could practically hear the gears in the team manager’s head turning; she would be a little worried about how obvious she was being about her pregnancy, but…

Well, Nekomaru had a kind heart and some wisdom in his mind, and he knew almost everything there was to know about athleticism, but… he was far from the most observant person in the world.

“Okay, I trust you.” Nekomaru nodded, and finally walked past her to leave the office. “Just tell me if you need anything, alright?” She nodded, and the team manager shouted something to Mondo and Gonta, both of whom were by the boxes that still needed to be carried, and Chiaki couldn’t help but let out a little laugh as she watched him go.

* * *

 

She had made a routine out of having coffee once a week with Junko, to try and see if she could help at all. Most of the time they were together, it was just the fashionista talking about whatever crossed her mind and Chiaki trying to give her advice on how to try and connect with her son. It was a tiring part of her weeks, but she did her best to help, and that kind of made her feel useful. She was more than happy to help her friends, even if Junko had a tendency to be selfish and occasionally rude and…

“Do you know if the baby is going to be a boy or a girl?”

Well, that question caught Chiaki off guard. She wasn’t used to Junko asking about  _ other _ people instead of just talking endlessly about herself. The gamer straightened up, blinking incredulously and trying to compute that Junko was thinking about someone besides himself. “No, they’re still not developed enough to tell, and we weren’t sure if we wanted it to be a surprise or not.” Her head tilted slightly, a small thoughtful frown appearing on her face. “Why did you want to know?”

Junko wasn’t looking at her, just stirring her coffee thoughtfully. “Well, I just wanted to know so I could maybe design some baby clothes and help design the nursery. Interior design and stuff for babies isn’t exactly my strong suit - designing myself isn’t my strong suit, really - but I do know a thing or two about what looks good.” A devilish smile had appeared on her face, and she leaned a little closer to the gamer. “I wanted to do something nice for you and Hajime and the baby, kind of as a thank you for being so helpful with all the issues I’ve been having with my son and my ex and everything.”

“Oh, I just wanted to help because your friend!” Chiaki was absolutely stunned, and she was probably doing a bad job of hiding it. She leaned forward and held both of Junko’s hands in hers, giving her friend a bright smile. “You don’t  _ have _ to do anything to repay me or say thank you or anything, but… I would absolutely love for you to help with the baby’s nursery and clothes.”

Junko laughed, and leaned back, removing her hands from Chiaki’s. She seemed to think for a moment, and straightened up, clapping her hands together. “Oh, I have an idea! What if it’s like a sex reveal type thing? Have me find out the sex of the baby before you or Hajime, and you’ll find out if it’s a boy or a girl based on the way I decorate the nursery and stuff?”

“That’s a great idea!” Chiaki chirped, feeling herself get excited just thinking about it. “I’ll talk to Hajime and see if he’s down for it, and then I’ll see if I can figure out how this will work.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: i'm a trans boy. i know gender reveal stuff is stupid, hence why it's being referred to as a sex reveal and isn't going to be a big party or anything.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonia and Akane arrive. Chiaki meets someone new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KAMUKURA KAMUKURA YAS QUEEN

Chiaki didn’t like airports. She didn’t like how different the air felt inside of them; it was like she had stepped through a save point, gone into another dimension. She didn’t like the noise or the smells, as she had a tendency to get overstimulated within just a few minutes of being inside of one. She was nothing if not ready to face her own discomfort for her friends’ sakes, though, so the day Akane and Sonia’s plane landed, she stood in the biggest airport of the city with Ibuki and Mahiru, the only other two members of their graduating class that weren’t too busy with work or kids to show up at the airport and escort the princess and athlete to their (almost excessively expensive) hotel.

Ibuki was bouncing on her heels next to her, and Chiaki couldn’t help but tap the tips of her fingers against the side of her thigh due to a combination of the musician’s ceaseless energy rubbing off on her and her own anxiety regarding how much she needed to get done in the next couple of days. She glanced over at Mahiru, finding her fiddling with her camera and adjusting the zoom and lighting to the airport’s specific environment. Good to know she wasn’t the only one that was anxious - or maybe absorbing some of Ibuki’s energy.

It wasn’t long before the plane carrying their friends settled onto the ground, and the moment the gates opened and Akane and Sonia appeared, Chiaki watched as Mahiru and Ibuki sprinted over to their friends and the four women collapsed into a crying and giggling heap. The gamer couldn’t help but laugh slightly, and she walked over to her friends; as the four of them got up to their feet, she found herself surrounded in a hug by a very excitable Sonia and an incredibly happy (and as strong as she always had been) Akane. Chiaki felt her heart warm up and swell, happy to be with her friends.

“Where’s Hiryur?” Chiaki asked, looking around the airport and not seeing the excitable toddler anywhere. Her brows furrowed, and she was a little concerned. “I thought you said you were taking him along on the visit.” It wasn’t that she was only interested in her friends for their son, she just wanted to see the little prince considering she rarely saw any of the three of them and had only met Hiryur twice since the day that he was born. She’d been looking forward to seeing him again.

“We did bring him!” Sonia chirped happily, bouncing on her heels a little as she took each of Chiaki’s hands into hers. “He fell asleep on the plane a little while ago, so he’s just…” She trailed off, and gestured to where they had put down their luggage, revealing a three year old fast asleep, curled up in a blanket and leaning against one of the suitcases propped up. Her heart melted, and her hand instinctively went to rest against her lower belly as a small smile appeared on her face.

She was caught up in excited chatter, Sonia and Akane updating Chiaki, Ibuki, and Mahiru on what had been going on since they last saw the royal couple a little over a year previously. They talked over video call and texts, of course, but it was nothing compared to seeing them in person. Mahiru and Ibuki helped carry luggage, but Ibuki insisted over and over that Chiaki shouldn’t do any heavy lifting, which was confusing to the other three who didn’t know about the pregnancy. She was grateful that the musician didn’t outright say anything, but trying to keep the secret until she could reveal everything at the party was proving to be exhausting. Maybe she should have just waited until she was at home by herself to take a pregnancy test instead of doing it while hanging out with other people. She accepted it without much argument, choosing to lift Hiryur and carry the sleeping toddler instead.

The party was in just a couple more days; she was sure she would survive until then. If not, well, maybe Mikan knew of some way to grow a fetus outside of the mother’s womb? She wasn’t going to amuse that train of thought. “So, where are we goin’ to be havin’ that reunion?” Akane asked as if she had picked the words right out of Chiaki’s mind as they arrived at Ibuki’s car and began loading the luggage up; the gamer strapped Hiryur into the seat Peko had loaned them.

“We rented a hall in the hotel you’re staying in, actually,” Chiaki responded as she crawled into the car, sitting in the back behind the driver’s seat; Sonia sat on Akane’s lap between her and Hiryur’s seat, Mahiru in the passenger’s side, Ibuki in the driver’s seat. The streamer was pretty sure that she had never felt so compressed or uncomfortable in her life, but she didn’t say anything to complain. “It’s going to be in just a couple of days, I think everyone has directions on how to get there.”

“Ibuki made sure to send everyone the address and hall number!” Ibuki chirped from the front street as she pulled into the road and drove to the hotel where the royal couple was staying. “If anyone gets lost, Mahiru is in charge of telling them the directions. She’s much better at that kind of thing than I am.” The musician laughed, and Chiaki gripped at Akane’s arm as they had to suddenly stop to avoid ramming into the car in front of them. Ibuki was an absolutely horrendous driver, but was the only one of the five of the adults with an actual driver’s license, so there wasn’t much of a choice there.

The musician continued rambling on for the few minutes it took to drive to the hotel, and Chiaki zoned out for the most part, resting her cheek on her hand and watching the buildings pass by. Until, of course, a few of the words out of Ibuki’s mouth caught her mind; “Oh, and Junko’s kid looks, like,  _ exactly _ like Hajime.” She twisted slightly to look at Chiaki over the seat. “Did you ever figure that out, Chi?”

She shifted slightly, uncomfortable. “Junko said that his father looks just like Hajime, but she said she doesn’t know anything about his family life or anything else.” She wiped her hair out of her face, and let out a shaky sigh. “I’m going to look more into it once I have a little more time on my hands.” Once everything had settled down with her pregnancy and finishing unpacking from moving and planning the reunion party. But she couldn’t say that out loud, not quite yet.

Maybe a miracle would happen.

* * *

 

It was evening by the time Chiaki finally made her way back to the apartment. The sun had gone down long ago, and she was completely exhausted as she tossed her purse onto the coffee table and pulled her hair out of the bun she had tied it up to. She was ready to just rush back into her bedroom, collapse and pass out in bed and sleep in and forget about her stress.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she dug it out in order to glance at the text displayed on her lockscreen. Hajime.  _ Being kept at the office late, probably won’t be home until late, I’ll bring home some fast food for dinner. I love you. Take a nap, I’ll wake you up when I get home. _ Chiaki groaned and rubbed a hand over her face; she was a little annoyed, a lot tired, and wished her husband was at home with her. Still, she understood, so she texted back a quick  _ love you too _ and tossed her phone on top of her purse. Now she could go get some sleep, forget about everything for at least a little while.

With her exhaustion and the darkness, she almost didn’t notice the man sitting on the couch.

Pink eyes blinked blearily for a moment, finished adjusting to the dim light of the living room as she struggled to make out features in the dark. The man’s long dark hair fell over his face and into a cape against his back. Red eyes seemed to glow slightly in the dim light of the apartment, and when Chiaki got a little closer, she could make out features completely identical to her husband’s.

In her exhausted haze, Chiaki could only blink twice, and despite the text that was still open on her locked phone, her first thought was to mutter out sleepily, “Hajime?”

The man shook his head, and Chiaki took a stumbling step back. She was confused, scared about this strange man that was sitting on her couch and had her husband’s features and somehow got into the house without either of them letting him in or letting the door unlocked. “Who are you? Did he let you in?” she asked, even though she  _ knew _ that Hajime had been at work all day, she  _ knew _ that he would’ve told her ahead of time before she could get home in a sleepy haze ready to collapse. He knew how drained she could get after spending a lot of time around their friends.

The man stood slowly, and Chiaki took another step back. She couldn’t think of why she was so scared, so nervous around this stranger. Well, maybe she could. Intruders weren’t something she wanted or expected. What if he had ill intentions? What if he wanted to kill her or worse? What if he had already killed her husband and set somebody up to send a fake text from his phone, or thought he could pass for Hajime and wanted to take over his life or --

“My name is Izuru Kamukura.” His words came out calm and flat, emotionless. She wasn’t sure if that scared her more or if the fact that he was beginning to explain himself made her feel a little better. “I am your husband’s… well, for lack of a better word, twin brother. He didn’t know about my existence, so don’t get angry with him.” He stepped past her towards the front door, flipped the switch to turn on the lights. Chiaki could make out now that he was wearing a formal suit, and that he was, in fact, identical to Hajime. But his expression was… so cold. It frightened her a little, knowing that the face that had shown her so much love and care since high school was capable of looking so apathetic.

She swallowed, breathed in slowly through her nose and out through her mouth. “How did you get into my house? And, while I’m at that, why did you break in instead of just trying to call us, or contacting us, or…” She ran a hand through her hair. “I have… so many questions.”

“I’m sure you do.” Izuru seemed to be analyzing her with cold eyes, the uncaring frown unmoving from his face. “All I can tell you right now is that my brother did not let me in, and I didn’t exactly break in, either. It’s rather complex.” His arms crossed over his chest, and he let out a heavy sigh, the first emotion he had expressed in the short amount of time that Chiaki had known him. “What I  _ can _ tell you right now is that I am the father of Junko Enoshima’s child. That’s the reason I came, to clear that up for you and my brother. If I knew of him earlier, I would have come earlier. I promise.”

“I believe you.” Chiaki nodded, and sighed heavily. She slowly approached the coffee table, collected her purse and her phone. “Okay, Izuru, how about you stay here for the night? You can sleep on the couch, I just… I just need to tell Hajime what’s going on. Can’t have my brother in law sleeping out in the streets, right?” She let out a nervous laugh, and Izuru nodded.

As soon as she had walked out into the hallway, she groaned and covered her face in her hands.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry if this isnt very good im completely inexperienced in writing party scenes and stuff

Every single time Chiaki decided to take part in a party, she was reminded of why she didn’t like them very often. Even aside from how she had done a lot of the planning for this one, she had been a mess of anxiety and regarding the social interaction she would have to live through for the next few hours of her life. Sure, she knew everybody that was going to be there very,  _ very _ well, and it was only sixteen friends that were more like family, but… well, there was a reason they didn’t get the entire graduating class together very often, that reason being a combination of some clashing parties and several people’s social anxiety. At least she knew she wasn’t alone there.

For the most part as the party began, she stook to Hajime’s side, sitting next to him at one of the tables that had been set up and saying hello to everyone that walked in. The last few days at home had been a little strained, with struggling to get to know Izuru despite his rather clear intention to keep everything about his past and where he had been the last twenty seven years of his brother’s life. There was one thing they could be sure of, at least, and that was that the two men were related. They looked too much alike for that to be any other case, their birthdays matched up, and her keen eyes had picked up on a couple of very,  _ very _ slight similarities between the way her husband and his long lost twin acted.

It was nice to get out of the house, at least, because Chiaki thought that she would go insane if she had to spend one more minute having a conversation with Izuru and deal with him dodging her questions without a break. She already thought of him as a friend - family, even, considering he was her brother in law - but she had to admit his refusal to accept her offering to get him to meet up with Junko or his son to settle some of that down every time was more than a little infuriating.

She didn’t want to think about that right now, though; she was here to try and relax and have a little bit of fun. Chiaki took a sip of the water bottle that sat on the table next to Hajime’s bottle of soda, let out a soft sigh through her nose and felt her husband put an arm around her shoulders; she leaned over a little to rest against him, eyes closing contentedly.

“Have you figured out how you’re going to announce the baby to everyone yet?” Hajime asked her, an innocent question that made Chiaki choke on the water for a moment. She tried to disguise it as best she could, and her husband gently rubbed her back for a moment as the coughing fit faded away. Honestly, she hadn’t even thought about it, even though that was the main reasoning behind her deciding to set the whole thing up. “Sorry. I just wanted to ask and see if you had anything planned.”

“Honestly, I forgot to think about it,” Chiaki responded with a nervous laugh, fiddling with the end of a strand of hair to try and keep her hands occupied. She was well aware that she probably looked a little bit pale, and Hajime linked one hand with one of hers to try and soothe her; she appreciated the gesture, and moved ever so slightly closer to him, so that their upper bodies were touching. She let out a heavy sigh, slumped forward ever so slightly and leaning her arms against the table.

“Well, it doesn’t have to be elaborate or anything. I’m sure it’ll be okay, everyone will be happy no matter how you announce it.” When Chiaki looked to her husband, she saw that Hajime had a bright smile on his face; that was enough to make her feel a little better. He had faith in her, and that was enough to make her determined that she would do okay. Maybe she would just wait until everybody was settled in, do what they do at fancy parties and tap on her glass to stand up and make an announcement and just say then that she was pregnant? She supposed that was the best way to go about things.

“Hey, Chiaki.” She was jolted out of her thoughts by a familiar voice addressing her, and looked up to find none other than the former Ultimate Imposter, Shigeri Yamamoto, sitting across the table from her. She blinked twice, and once they were sure she was paying attention, they spoke up again. “You seem awfully distracted right now. I thought you would be more interested in socializing and catching up with everyone. Is something wrong?” They sounded genuinely concerned, and her cheeks reddened.

“No, I’m okay, it’s nothing to worry about. I was just lost in thought, I think,” she reassured them quickly, putting a careful and reassuring smile on her face to try and ward off any worry her friend - or friends, she wasn’t sure if anybody else had noticed that she was zoned out and acting a little different - might have been feeling towards her. How silly of her, to be losing herself to overly excessive planning when she was supposed to be catching up with friends she hadn’t seen all in the same place in a while. Aside from escorting them to their hotel room, she hadn’t seen Akane and Sonia in person for almost a year, for Christ’s sake. A bit of frustration at herself wormed itself into her mind.

“If you say so.” Shigeri reached across the table to put a hand on her shoulder, a small smile making its way onto their face. “Just know that if you need anything, you can come right to me, okay? I may not disguise myself as Byakuya anymore, but I still like to think of myself as a leader my friends can depend on.” She nodded, and they got to their feet, returning to mingle with their other friends.

Chiaki slumped forward, and her forehead thunked gently against the wood of the table. She heard Hajime give a soft laugh just barely muffled by his hand, and she groaned, turning her head to glare at him out of the corner of her eye. “What’s so funny?” she asked, though she sounded a little more like a pouty child than a genuinely upset grown woman, which she supposed wasn’t very far from the truth, and he laughed a little more. “Come on, Hajime, it’s not funny! I’m really stressed out here!” she tried to snap at him, but it only really came out as a babyish whine.

“I just think it’s funny that you’re stressing out so much about this. I get that it’s a big announcement and everything, but these friends are basically our family. You know that.” He squeezed her hand gently, rested the side of his head against the top of his wife’s, and she let out a heavy sigh. “It’s going to be okay, Chiaki. I know it’s easier said than done, but just try not to stress about it so much.”

She wrinkled her nose, but sighed and nodded in response. It would probably be best to just try and relax, for herself and the baby, and… well, when she was ready to announce it, it would come to her. She had a few hours to get everything figured out, after all - it was only five in the evening, and they had the room until nine. If she couldn’t figure something out in four hours, she was seriously concerned for her ability to make much of any decisions - it wasn’t even something that would be that hard to talk about. It wasn’t like there were any other twists and turns to her pregnancy - there was one fetus, she was healthy, the unborn baby was healthy, she and Hajime were both ecstatic about becoming parents.

She pressed a gentle kiss against her husband’s cheek, and got to her feet, making her way over to a small group of their friends - Gundham, Kazuichi, Sonia, and Teruteru, all in a crowd talking about one thing or another. Chiaki had to be curious about what exactly those four would have to talk about - Sonia and Gundham were the only two that had much in common, and Kazuichi was dating Gundham so he could probbaly squeeze into the conversation somewhere, but Teruteru? As far as Chiaki knew, he was interested in three things; his family, his cooking, and anything sex related.

That would probably be a good spot to start for the night. Just go hang out with those four friends and see if they were talking about anything interesting, anything she could poke her head into. She arrived with her hands shoved into her hoodie pockets and her head tilted slightly, and at first, all she could really do was listen in on what Sonia was saying. It was something about Teruteru’s two kids being named after anime characters, and Chiaki had to swallow down a little laugh.

“It was Hifumi’s idea, not mine, and since he was the one carrying them and they got my family name I figured it was only fair for him to choose their names!” Teruteru sounded almost offended that he was being questioned, and although Chiaki felt bad about it the thought briefly crossed her mind that he deserved it. She thought of the chef as a friend, but his obsession with anything sexual could get a little… grating at times. It made sense that he would choose to get married to Hifumi Yamada, one of the boys that graduated the year after them who was almost as insufferable. The main difference between them was that Hifumi was more interested in  _ anime _ sex than  _ real _ sex.

“How did you guys even get that to work?” Kazuichi asked, his hands behind his head as he seemed to lean back slightly. “As far as I know, neither of you is trans. I’m sorry if I’m wrong about that, I just… can’t wrap my head around how two cis dudes can make a baby and have one carry it. Much less the twins.” That was a fair question, and Chiaki decided that she ought to stick around for this discussion.

By the time there was only half an hour left in the room reservation, Chiaki still hadn’t announced her pregnancy. She had gotten preoccupied drifting around the room, conversing with various friends and learning about what everyone had been up to - she learned that Peko and Fuyuhiko were definitely going to try for their second child, Sonia and Akane were thinking about another one as well (“though that’s a few years down the line, we don’t know if Hiryur is ready to be a  big brother yet,” Sonia had said), and that Mikan was thinking about pursuing a further education to be a nurse practitioner instead (it was Ibuki that had announced that loudly and proudly, not the nurse herself - the musician seemed to always be more proud of her wife’s accomplishments than anyone else).

It was a quiet and timid reminder from Mikan that she hadn’t said anything about her pregnancy yet and the time was almost up that reminded Chiaki that it was time for her to speak up. Stagefright made her chest freeze up for a moment, but she ended up taking her husband by the hand and just pulling him over to one of the tables at the front of the room. She would have to just get her friends’ attention and announce it with too much prior thought.

That was significantly easier on her, if she was being honest.

A few taps to a glass with a fork, and the room turned to her, and she had to swallow heavily. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to make this big a deal of her pregnancy after all? Everyone else had just announced it either through the mail or one on one quietly. No, no turning back now. Chiaki took a deep breath, put a smile on her face, and spoke up.

“So, a big part of the reason I wanted to help organize the party was because I wanted to tell everybody this at once,” she spoke, her usually soft voice ever so slightly louder and stronger now that she was talking to multiple people at once. “I’m pregnant! Hajime and I were going to be parents!”

The final half hour of the party was spent with her friends surrounding her and congratulating her, Mahiru already talking about a baby shower and helping set things up, and Chiaki decided that she had never felt so loved and appreciated than she did that night.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Junko builds the nursery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nodespair junko is the love of my life

It was Chiaki’s idea to get the nursery set up while she and Hajime were both at the class reunion party so that neither of them could peek, and Junko was happy to comply. She had already bought everything that needed to be purchased in terms of furniture and decorations, and she had asked Mondo Oowada from her graduating class to help her haul all of the decorations and furniture into the room that was supposed to become the nursery, and she was in a good mood when she made the way to the apartment, sunglasses covering her eyes and faux fur around her shoulders framing her face. She looked good, she felt good, she was ready to do something good.

“How are we supposed to get in the apartment if Chiaki and Hajime aren’t home?” Mondo asked her, and Junko was confused by the question for a second. “I doubt either of them trusts you enough to leave you with a key to their apartment. I know I wouldn’t.” She would be insulted if she didn’t know that the biker had absolutely no filter, so Junko just let it slide as she squatted down to the welcome mat sitting outside their front door and lifting it up to try and find what she needed.

The model carefully plucked the key off the ground, being careful to not disturb her perfectly manicured nails. She wouldn’t want to break one off before she got the chance to do anything, after all. “Chiaki told me they keep a key under the mat,” she responded, holding it up for Mondo to see before shoving it in the keyhole and turning until she heard a click from the handle. “They’re too trusting, if you ask me, but whatever. It’s not my stuff that could get robbed.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m gonna go get started on putting up the wall decor, you think you can handle the boxes?” she asked as she pushed the door open, high heels clacking harshly against the linoleum of the floor before she flipped the light switch beside the door and almost dropping the key in shock.

Someone she never thought she would see again stood in front of her, and Mondo was halfway through the word “absolutely” before he shut up. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded rather quickly, and Junko put her arm out to press her hand against Mondo’s chest before he could approach the man in the living room and do something rash. Like making the stupid, stupid mistake of trying to attack someone who was created to be full of as many talents as he could.

Izuru Kamukura didn’t look like much, but in the short time she was with him, Junko could remember watching him judo flip enough people that even she was scared to be sassy with him for a time. “It’s fine, this is someone they know,” she told Mondo quickly. “I guess he must just be staying the night or something! It’d be, like, awesome if you’d put your toxic masculinity away for ten minutes and go get the rest of the boxes, okay, corn head?” A bright smile crossed her features.

The biker rolled his eyes, but turned on his heel and began walking out of the apartment anyway. Junko sighed heavily as if she was deflating, the look on his face changing from ‘plastic mean girl’ to ‘exhausted and calculating’ within a few short seconds. She approached Izuru rather quickly, forgetting for a moment about her mission and the box her friend dropped on the floor before doing  _ exactly _ what she had just tried to prevent Mondo from doing; she pressed her hands against the man’s chest and gave him the best shove she could manage. He didn’t even budge.

“You disappear for  _ years _ when I tell you I’m pregnant and then you suddenly come back when it happens to your brother’s life? What the hell, Kamukura?” she snapped, feeling more rage than she had in a long time - she almost felt like her face was about to explode off of the rest of her body. She was used to fleeting relationships, to flings that never went anywhere, but when it came from one of the few people he trusted before she could really move out of her mean girl persona during high school, it really stung.

“I came back to sort out anything that might have come from our son moving back into the area, Junko. Unless you want people to accuse you and my brother of having an affair for the rest of your lives, whether Chiaki believes the truth or not.” Izuru’s arms folded over his chest, and Junko had to hold herself back from snapping that her kid wasn’t his son, not after what he pulled. But… he did have his name and features. And she wasn’t exactly raising him, either.

“Whatever,” she hissed, eyes narrowed as she turned around to pick up the box of decorations. “Just stay out of my way while I’m working or I’ll castrate you so that you can never get anybody else pregnant before leaving for years again.” She pushed past him as she made her way to the room she was setting up, let out a heavy sigh and ended up setting up everything in the room much more violently than she originally intended to, with Mondo putting the furniture together to make sure she didn’t break it.

* * *

 

Chiaki was exhausted when she returned to the apartment, exhausted enough that she had all but forgotten about the presence of Izuru and the fact that Junko had promised to set up the nursery. She probably would have forgotten completely and not even  _ looked _ at the room until the model yelled at her to if she was not, in fact, still in the apartment waiting for the couple to return, sitting on the couch with her legs resting in a very annoyed looking Izuru’s lap. Impressive - the gamer wasn’t even completely sure that her brother in law could show any emotion at all to start with.

“Go look at it!” Junko demanded of her before Chiaki could even shrug off her hoodie and Hajime could even step inside. “Come on, I spent too much time and money on that room for you to not look at it right away! I need you to go find out why you’ll name one of your kids after me!” A sharp laugh left her then, and Chiaki wondered for a brief moment if her friend had gotten drunk somehow without ever leaving the apartment. She decided not to question it, knowing it would probably just make her more tired than she had been to start with, and slung her hoodie over the back of a chair before linking her arm with her husband’s and walking with him further into the apartment.

Her breath was taken away the moment she opened the door.

She had expected for the room to feel a little tighter, a little smaller when there was furniture in it instead of empty walls and clean carpets, but Junko had somehow set the room up in a way where it still looked the same size, if not a little bigger. The walls were still the blank white as they had been beforehand, as she had expected considering it would be a little hard to paint a room and decorate it within a few hours, but had been covered in paintings and posters of various shades of purple to match the rug, the stuffed animals, the accents on the white wood furniture. Junko had claimed that she wasn’t very good at interior design, but this was better than anything Chiaki ever could have come up with, and it took her a long time to finally notice the sign on the back wall announcing  _ IT’S A GIRL. _

The first of them to speak was Hajime, letting out a soft “We’re having a girl,” as he put an arm around Chiaki’s waist and pulled her a little closer to him; the gamer was more than happy to comply, resting her head against her husband’s shoulder. It had been a wonderful, if stressful, night, and she had to admit this was a perfect way to end it. She swallowed in an attempt to keep tears from leaving her; she wasn’t usually one to cry when she got too emotional, but she was tired, she was overwhelmed, she was hormonal, and there was a first time for everything, she supposed.

She took a moment to calm down, to walk around the nursery and look at everything in the room before she was ready to leave and give Junko a hug, thank her earnestly for the favor she had done for her little family. Junko laughed her off - “Oh, come on, you’ve been such a big help to me, it’s the least I could do,” the model assured the gamer, a grin on her face as she pulled out of the hug but still gently held onto her friend’s wrists. “But… if you  _ wanna _ do me a favor, I’d appreciate letting me crash on your couch for the night. I let Mondo leave without me and I don’t have my car.”

Chiaki blinked. She hadn’t really been expecting to have two people sleeping in her apartment tonight, but she supposed that she would be fine with Junko sticking around for one night. “I mean, you and Izuru are going to have to fight over who gets the couch,” she replied as she pulled her wrists away. “But it’s fine with me. I can go find a sleeping bag for one of you to sleep in.”

“I mean, after the emotional bullshit Izuru’s put me through, I would certainly hope he’ll let me take the couch.” As if to punctuate the sentence, her head whipped around so that blue eyes could narrow into a glare at Izuru, who rolled his eyes.

“I’m fine with sleeping on the floor. No sleeping bag needed.” Izuru’s voice was as flat and calm as ever, and he opened the book that had previously been pinned underneath Junko’s legs to return to his reading. “This will most likely be my last night sleeping in your home anyway.”

The gamer furrowed her brows, but decided that it wasn’t worth getting into an argument over. “Well, okay. I’m going to go join Hajime and get some sleep, then.” She gave Junko one last hug and one last quiet ‘thank you’ before bidding her brother in law and friend goodnight and turning around to get back to the bedroom. She was even more tired than she had been when she first got home, thinking that it was just because of the excitement of the end of the day.

She was barely able to pull off the dress clothes she was still wearing before she collapsed on her back in bed, feeling like she was about to pass out. Hajime sat up to pull her close, and Chiaki let out a gentle hum as she settled into her husband’s arms and cuddled up to him. “I have an idea,” Hajime spoke up, and Chiaki grunted softly as she looked up at him with tired pink eyes. “How about, tomorrow, we just take a day to relax? I don’t think either of us can really get through another day with a bunch of stuff to do, and you and the baby need more rest.”

“That sounds great,” Chiaki responded with a yawn, unable to keep her eyes open and barely aware that her voice sounded a little less understandable than it usually was. “We’re gonna have to figure out a name for her soon, though…”

“We have time before she comes.” Hajime pressed a gentle kiss against her forehead, and a small smile appeared on Chiaki’s face. “We just need some time to settle down and actually let ourselves get settled into the new apartment, and honestly, you’ve only been sleeping at night recently, which alone is enough to concern me.” His voice was joking, and the gamer could only get through half a laugh before she fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime takes Komaeda to therapy, and Chiaki helps out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in this house we are all recovering and valid
> 
> the siblings maki mentions are kokichi & himiko! keech and himi are twins and maki is adopted into their family

Komaeda was a very physically affectionate person, but Hajime was among the only people that he was willing to cling to without rambling about being dirty and useless. Maybe it was because he didn’t have an ultimate talent like the rest of their friends, maybe it was because he just spent a lot of his time around the luckster. Either way, Hajime was glad that his best friend trusted him, and was… honestly kind of honored when Nagito came to him a few days before his first appointment with a psychiatrist and asked him if he would be willing to go with him, drop him off or sit with him in the waiting room. It had taken so long to convince him to get professional help, and Hajime wanted to be there for him. 

It was a reasonably small building. Private. One of the least expensive options, according to Komaeda’s constant rambling while they were on the way there, but qualified enough to meet the standards Makoto met when they were looking at options together. The pale boy was still rather vexed at having anything to do with a therapist and getting over what he thought was true, but… Hajime could see through his constant griping and self deprecation that he was looking forward to healing. Looking forward to not hating himself as much. A smile made its way onto Hajime’s face.

He was told that he could just speed right off as soon as Komaeda got out of the car (“or even while I’m still climbing out,” the luckster had joked, and Hajime had gently pushed his shoulder), but he refused. He walked into the building with Komaeda, ushered him to go check in as he went to settle in one of the chairs of the waiting room. He thumbed through one of the magazines sitting there, mostly about mental health, and clucked his tongue thoughtfully as he went through a couple of articles.

Komaeda sat with him after a couple of minutes, asked questions about various bits and pieces of the paperwork he had been asked to fill out. Hajime didn’t know a  _ lot, _ but he was able to at least tell him a few pieces of what to fill in from the time he’d spent taking Chiaki to doctor’s appointments. They were different in purpose, but a lot of what needed to be known was the same - contact information, past health trouble, any medication he might have been on.

It didn’t take very long for the doctor’s assistant to call Nagito back, and though Hajime asked if he wanted him to come back, he refused. Hajime sat in the waiting room in the time that his friend was talking to the psychiatrist,  scrolling through feeds and reading articles on his phone, texting Chiaki back and forth about how her day was going. She was going to help Toko and Komaru out at the daycare center a little later, and apparently one of the more elusive members of the 79th class of Hope’s Peak was there - that was something that the gamer found exciting, and a small smile made its way onto Hajime’s face.

“You look absolutely full of hope,” he heard a voice beside him say, and Hajime started, surprised, as he looked up at his friend. Komaeda looked even more tired than he usually did, which was something that he hadn’t even thought was possible. “Come on, I’m just going to get checked out and then we can go.” A weak smile was sent his way, but before Komaeda could walk away, Hajime grabbed onto his arm as gently as could be considered firm, and exhausted green eyes glanced back at him.

“Did it not go well?” Hajime asked, brows furrowed. He couldn’t help but be concerned for his friend, and he knew that it might be best to just let him get ready to leave, but he let too much slide when they were in high school. He let his friend’s mental state go unfixed for more than a decade, and… now that Komaeda was so close to some form of healing, he wasn’t going to let much of anything slide. Hajime wanted to be there, and he wanted to help as best as he could.

“I just had to think about some things I haven’t thought about in a very long time, that’s all,” Komaeda responded, sounding more honest and confident than Hajime could recall ever hearing him, and Hajime was… glad, really that he was trusted enough to be spoken to about any problems his friend might be having. Just talking could only go so far, but… it could do something. “It went fine, really. She said that the first few appointments will be telling her about myself and what I’ve been through, and that as time goes on we’ll be able to work a little more on recovery. I… don’t know…”

“Well, that’s good. That means there’s a chance that you can recover!” Hajime smiled brightly, squeezed his friend’s wrist gently, and once he was well aware that Komaeda wasn’t about to run off, he let go. “You’re not a lost cause like you’ve been saying for years. Your head being sick isn’t very much different from any part of you being sick. Sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better, you know? It’s going to be hard at first to deal with reliving everything you’ve been through, but it’s only so you can heal. And I think that’s important for you. And for everyone that loves you.”

Komaeda bit his lip, green eyes glancing down at the ground before he put the fake smile back on and nodded. “You’re right.” Hajime almost couldn’t believe that it was this easy, that he was able to convince his friend to keep going with the apparently painful task of growing and healing. Maybe that was a sign that his longtime friend was finally growing up, finally moving past the mindset that had kept him a self destructive teenager for a long time.

Hajime couldn’t say he’d ever been prouder.

* * *

 

Chiaki had spent a lot of time at the home of Toko and Komaru, so she couldn’t say that she was necessarily a stranger to helping out with the children that were taught there. What she wasn’t as experienced in, though, was in doing it while their five adopted children were there. Most of the time she was already at home and streaming by the time the self proclaimed Warriors of Hope got home from school, but today, she decided to stop by on the weekend when the most children were there. Not busy with school, but their parents sometimes at work and unable to take care of them.

The gamer knocked three times on the front door, and she was surprised by how quickly the door swung open and green eyes appeared in the crack. A big smile appeared on the child’s face, and the door opened the rest of the way to reveal Monaca Towa-Naegi, wheeling her chair back so that Chiaki could come inside. “Monaca was starting to get worried you wouldn’t come!” she chirped, and for a moment the gamer had to wonder why Monaca had learned how to speak in the third person.

She knew that all five of Komaru and Toko’s adopted children had come from traumatic lives with their biological families, the abuse they suffered severe enough that they had to be removed from their blood parents’ custody. Monaca had been physically abused to the point that she was paralyzed from the waist down. Masaru had lived with an alcoholic father and gotten beaten up every time he did something remotely wrong. Jataro had been trained from the moment he was born to believe that he was ugly and hated and didn’t deserve to be alive. Kotoko had been sexually assaulted, sold out by her mother from a very young age for the sake of her acting career. Nagisa had been experimented on and had a work ethic that couldn’t be shaken off even after years of trying forced upon him.

The children didn’t need her pity, but she couldn’t help but feel bad for them nonetheless. That was why she gave Monaca a smile no matter how many accidentally insulting words left her mouth. That was why she was patient no matter what happened when she was helping Toko and Komaru out. “Of course I was coming,” Chiaki responded, a bit of amusement in her voice. “I’m fifteen minutes early.”

It didn’t take Monaca very long to roll back to wherever she’d been before, and Chiaki poked her head into the kitchen to find Komaru there, working on what she assumed was food for the kids spending that day at the daycare. “Oh, hey Chiaki!” the other woman chirped as soon as she glanced over her shoulder to see the gamer. “How’s your day going so far? And how was your reunion thing?” Ever the talkative one, Komaru put down what she was working on and hurried over to give Chiaki a hug. She was startled by the sudden hold, but she returned it nonetheless.

“It went well!” Chiaki responded, smiling at her friend as she wriggled out of the hug. “And my day’s going pretty okay. Hajime took Nagito to his therapy session a little bit before I left.” Komaru seemed delighted by the news that her brother’s fiance was finally getting the help he deserved and needed, but before she could say anything else, a crash and shout from the room the children were in caught her attention. She made a move like she was about to make a run for the room, but she glanced behind her at the stove before she could even make it out the door.

“The kids are hanging out with Syo,” Komaru explained quickly, a little grimace on her face. “Can you go make sure that nobody’s dead yet? I still have to be in here for at least ten more minutes before lunch is ready and I can leave the kitchen.” Chiaki’s first instinct was to question why Komaru would ever let her more… energetic girlfriend ever be in charge of a group of children, but she supposed that wasn’t exactly the best thing to ask. Syo  _ was _ good with children, they found her endless abundance of energy fun and exciting, but she was hardly fit to be the only adult around them.

“Yeah, I’ll be right back,” Chiaki responded with a small smile, already feeling completely exhausted as she turned on her heel and walked out of the kitchen. It was only a few feet across the hall, so within a few steps she was there, but she was certainly surprised by what she found when she stepped inside - Maki Harukawa with three children under one arm, picking up a mess with the other.

It wasn’t that Maki was a scary person (she was), but Chiaki wasn’t used to seeing her in person, much less taking care of kids. She was under the impression that class 79’s most elusive graduate didn’t care for small humans very much. “Syo caused a bit of trouble. Do you want to help wrangle the children or pick up the mess?” she asked, and Chiaki didn’t waste much time in holding out her arms for Maki to dump a very giggly Hiryur Nevermind into them.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Chiaki started to talk, already feeling a little bad as she addressed Maki. “But why are you here today? I was under the imrpession that you didn’t like children.” And by under the impression, she meant that was something Maki had been very firm about for years.

“Well, I figure I need to get practice in taking care of kids again. It’s been a long time, and my dumbass siblings keep having them, so I might as well not wing it when they ask me to babysit anymore.” She tossed the last object where it had been before, and glanced in Chiaki’s direction again before looking over at a very disoriented Toko, who was sitting up and rubbing her head after getting front back from Syo. “This is a mess. I’m glad you’re here to help out.”

“I’m glad I’m here too,” Chiaki responded slowly, without being really sure if she was being honest. Either way, though, she’d promised she would, so she would.

**Author's Note:**

> please go ahead and comment and leave a kudos if you enjoyed this and want to see more! also, leave comments suggesting the gender and name of the hinanami baby down below ;)


End file.
